As this weekend approached I was gleefully anticipating all the free time that lay awaiting. I had no plans. I didn’t have to be anywhere at any particular time. I had visions of spending the day in my PJ’s, lounging on the chaise as I sipped tea and read my book or lazily dozed off into a wee cat nap. What bliss. No “to-do” list.
And as the weekend loomed even closer, I thought I’d just say yes to one or two invites from friends…simply because I have all of this free time, what’s the harm in adding in a social event or two? And now, as I sit and write this (still in my PJ’s) I have this strong sense that I need to be doing more. I have the opportunity to sort through my closet, to dig through those books that no longer are of interest, to bake gluten-free bread, head to the farmer’s market, get a pedicure, meet another friend for a movie or lunch, begin to organize my taxes, groom the dogs, re-decorate my husband’s office and hell, why not…begin to learn how to knit!
What happened to the bliss? To the “not-doing” that seemed so inviting and simple?
My thought for the week is how it takes time to unplug. Have you ever gone on a vacation and it takes three days before you can even begin to relax and then the vacation is almost over? If we are always doing, accomplishing and getting things done then the concept of doing little is completely foreign. It doesn’t feel right or justified to not do anything, so we keep our lives filled with things to distract us from stillness. Is it an unconscious fear that if we get too quiet all of the stuff we crammed down into ourselves will begin to percolate to the surface and that’s a whole new kettle of fish to deal with that we’re not quite ready to face?
My suggestion is to not wait until we have obvious breathing room, but to engage in moments of stillness, quiet, reflection, of simply doing nothing every day. It’s as though we need to develop a habit of being ok with less…doing less, thinking less, earning less, buying less, talking less, eating less. Can we get comfortable with simply being who we are in THIS moment?
OK…so, now I’m going to simply breathe and crumple up my list of to-do’s and throw the ambitious weekend out the window. I think I’ll be happy to keep it simple and stick with the original plan of just a couple of things and let the rest unfold.
Wish me luck!
