He That Hunts Two Hares Catches Neither

June 20, 2022



Insightful words/sentiment/advice.  Not mine.  I'm neither thoughtful nor eloquent, but have no qualms about riding the coattails of the brilliant people before.  And this was WAY before me.  Some people say it comes from a French proverb: “Qui chasse deux lièvres n'en prend pas un", or... He who chases two hares, catches none. It's found in the 1710 edition of “Dictionnaire des proverbes François”.  Others say the phrase is: "If you try to chase two rabbits, both will escape", which is from the late fifteenth century, according to Desiderius Erasmus, a Dutch philosopher, who compiled a collection of Greek and Latin proverbs published in 1500 and today known as Adagia or Adages.  The original phrase being: “duos insequens lepore's neutrum capit”.

And just so's you know, I'm 100% opposed to hunting so I prefer the Greek/Latin version: "If you try to chase two rabbits, both will escape"

Anyway... what does this saying mean to me?

To me it's about focus.  If my mind/efforts/time is divided, then it's possible what I'm doing is not being done well.  If I were, however, to focus on one thing, I have a better chance of success.

Running across the phrase was timely for me because I've been thinking a lot lately about the how my time is being used.  I made a list (you know me and lists!).  On the left I wrote down the major things that take up my time.  On the right, I wrote down the things that I need to do that aren't getting done.  It's not that I'm lazy; it's that I keep running out of time.  Well, it makes sense then that the ONLY solution is that one or more of things on the left side of the list have to go.

The only ones I see at the moment that are go-able are the three art galleries I'm in.  They're co-op galleries so they do require more time beyond just making jewelry (which is time-consuming itself).  But I'm really attached to all three and it's hard to choose one.  The logical choice would be the one that takes up most of my time (I won't say here which one that is).

Some of the time-consuming things I'm not willing to stop include taking care of my health.  I walk about 5 miles every day (that's the goal anyway... if I hit 5 out of 7 days with this, I'm good).

So here I am on my walk this morning.  Oh yeah, totally bundled up.  It was only in the mid-30's but to me that's a whole lotta hurtin'.  I'm very cold intolerant.



So... what to do, what to do?

I definitely think I need to stop pretending that it's just a matter of organizing my time.  That I really can fit everything in, I just need to figure out a way.  Realistically, that's not a feasible option because there are just too many things on the left side of the list.  

Does anyone else have a similar dilemma?  I'd love to know I'm not alone.  Do you find yourself realizing SOMETHING HAS TO GO?  

For many years (decades?), I felt guilty for not being able to "do it all".  For not being able to be superwoman.  I don't have that problem now.  I don't want to be superwoman or even a façade of superwoman.  But I do want to figure out what my priorities are.  So in thinking about the galleries, one of my first thoughts is... the income.  Am I able/willing to give up the income?  I am.  Part of that is because one of the things on my "I can't get to it" list is probably an even better income maker.  But then I ask myself if I'm willing to give up the social interaction.  That one's tougher.  I do tend to be more of a loner so pushing myself outside of my comfortable alone box is something the galleries are good for.  

Writing this blog is rather like journaling, and one of the benefits (I find) in journaling is when you "talk something out" sometimes the situation becomes clearer.  So I know what I have to do, even if it DOES hurt.  I need to just rip the band-aid off and give notice at one of the galleries so I can start taking care of a couple more things on the right side of the list. In truth, I should leave all three galleries, but baby steps.