In my last blog post I was talking about starting fun winter projects to while away the winter months, all with good intentions of course. Well, I did get my pattern magazines out and I got an idea of the bag that I'd sew for myself, I've even been searching for flats to buy online (haven't viewed any though so difficult to make progress) but new recipes? No, haven't tried a single one. Something went wrong after that. If there'd been a soundtrack playing, it would've come to a sudden end with a terrible record scratch sound.
I just got fed up with the feeling that I had to be doing something all the time, something that seemed okay and even fun but somehow wasn't. I think my intention was right but my way of going about it was wrong. I was fighting against to-do lists and even nice things were becoming chores.
Then two things happened.
One, I was reading a wonderful book called 'The Map' by Boni Lonnsbury. In the book she was talking about the importance of honouring who you are and doing things you enjoy and suggested making a list of 25 things you love to do. I did that, it was very helpful. I recommend you do it too; it's eye-opening to realise that most of the things you love doing are either free or don't cost very much.
Two, I came across an article by Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of 'Eat, Pray, Love', about women fearing that they are not doing enough with their lives, and she was suggesting that maybe striving to be perfect is something we should be doing less of and allowing us to be disappointed in ourselves is something we should do more of.
Whoopee! Did I need more convincing that it was perfectly okay to be boring and do nothing, at least occasionally? Hell no. Out went all my lists of stuff to do, projects to start, goals for this month and for the year for that matter. No guilty feelings allowed for getting nothing done, I would just let myself be and only do things I enjoyed doing.
The main point here is exactly that: doing what I enjoy doing, period. When you really think about it, what's the point of doing things you don't love doing? You'll just make yourself miserable.
I want to treat my time as precious by doing things I love doing as much as I can. Of course I've also done stuff that's not particularly enjoyable such as housework etc, but I've kept that to minimum. Sometimes the things I enjoy doing may not be the most exciting things, but if I'm able to do things I enjoy doing all day every day, surely my life will be far more enjoyable and exciting than doing something I don't like.
I'm getting ready to start thinking about my projects again and I'm beginning to get excited about them. I just needed a break and a permission from myself to be just as boring as I liked, for as long as I felt like it. It's been good.
Some time soon I'll have a peek at my goals lists again. And I'm sure at some point to-do lists will make an appearance again. When I'm ready.
I just got fed up with the feeling that I had to be doing something all the time, something that seemed okay and even fun but somehow wasn't. I think my intention was right but my way of going about it was wrong. I was fighting against to-do lists and even nice things were becoming chores.
Then two things happened.
One, I was reading a wonderful book called 'The Map' by Boni Lonnsbury. In the book she was talking about the importance of honouring who you are and doing things you enjoy and suggested making a list of 25 things you love to do. I did that, it was very helpful. I recommend you do it too; it's eye-opening to realise that most of the things you love doing are either free or don't cost very much.
Two, I came across an article by Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of 'Eat, Pray, Love', about women fearing that they are not doing enough with their lives, and she was suggesting that maybe striving to be perfect is something we should be doing less of and allowing us to be disappointed in ourselves is something we should do more of.
Whoopee! Did I need more convincing that it was perfectly okay to be boring and do nothing, at least occasionally? Hell no. Out went all my lists of stuff to do, projects to start, goals for this month and for the year for that matter. No guilty feelings allowed for getting nothing done, I would just let myself be and only do things I enjoyed doing.
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The main point here is exactly that: doing what I enjoy doing, period. When you really think about it, what's the point of doing things you don't love doing? You'll just make yourself miserable.
I want to treat my time as precious by doing things I love doing as much as I can. Of course I've also done stuff that's not particularly enjoyable such as housework etc, but I've kept that to minimum. Sometimes the things I enjoy doing may not be the most exciting things, but if I'm able to do things I enjoy doing all day every day, surely my life will be far more enjoyable and exciting than doing something I don't like.
I'm getting ready to start thinking about my projects again and I'm beginning to get excited about them. I just needed a break and a permission from myself to be just as boring as I liked, for as long as I felt like it. It's been good.
Some time soon I'll have a peek at my goals lists again. And I'm sure at some point to-do lists will make an appearance again. When I'm ready.
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