Wednesday, July 1, 2009

MY "DO LESS"ODYSSEY

Welcome to my two day hiatus from my usual routine. I'm a little slow getting there, but I recently joined the DO LESS REVOLUTION over at Magpie Girl. It's all about“Choosing the Essentials” and doing less to accomplish more because you are doing what matters to you.

The concept of Choosing the Essentials is all about picking the things you must do and want to do in a way that reflects your values so that more of your hours can and will be spent doing things you enjoy - things that nourish you, inspire you, and leave you feeling satisfied at the end of the day.

Offered two days off this week, my mind immediately started compiling at list of things these two "free" days would allow me to accomplish. It started like this:
1.Make doctor's appointment
2. Scrape and paint basement foundation
3. Scrape and touch up paint on veranda railings and post
4. Buy strawberries and make jam
5. Weed flower gardens
etc. etc. etc.

But wait, did I not just sign up for the "Do Less Revolution"? What was I thinking? Except for my doctor's appointment, a must do, I quickly trashed the above list...and so began my "do as little as possible" odyssey. It started with just a few bumps, but all is flowing nicely now.

Day one I found that doing nothing could be a lot of work. Retraining your mind to let go of old ingrained habits is not an easy task. It started with my skipping my morning walk, which I shouldn't have as it just didn't feel right. I felt somewhat guilty for not going, but I also realized I actually missed it. I will not do that again, the point here being that I should be doing only the things I really have to or want to. Who knew that walking would make it onto my list of "want to". The dishes sitting in the sink crying out for me didn't help either, but since that's on the "have to do" list, as was packing my hubby's lunch for the following day, they had to be done. Once finished, I was able to enjoy a nice bath before heading for my appointment and an afternoon of Frenchy shopping which I really enjoyed. I found two really cool skirts for my belly dance lessons. With supper under my belt and an evening with hubby and TV, I slipped off to bed to complete day one of doing less.

Day two and doing less is getting so much easier. I postponed my early morning trek to have breakie with hubby before he headed off for work and then caught up on my blogging while grooving to my new Belly Dance CD. Then off to the farm market in town where I spent way too much on natural soaps and lotion and enough organic vegetables to cook a big pot of Hodge Podge for supper. Home again, walk in and a pot of veggies simmering on the stove...and I'm liking this Do Less concept. As for the painting and weeding, it'll be there for another day when I get tired of doing nothing and doing these chores begin to matter to me.

7 comments:

  1. sounds very nice indeed! :)

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  2. WOW!! This is great...believe it or not, I was just over there at Magpie Girl's last week and got so caught up in reading through all the other great stuff I forgot to get in on the Do Less thing -- it is exactly what I need right now!!

    I'm so glad you're enjoying doing less and it's great to see that it's showing you the things that you truly value in your day!!

    Brilliant!! Thanks so much for sharing this...

    ~much love~

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  3. Hi there! Oh this is a lovely thought...do less...lol. I really need to follow suit. I do too much and then stress myself out for not getting everything done. This is a great post to read today...I will seriously think about how I can cut some unneccessary things from my day!

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  4. I would write more here, but then I wouldn't be doing less, now wouldf I? And, THAT sounds divine!

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  5. Hi mom, glad you enjoyed your days off! Grooving to belly dance music is so much fun! I have the day off (July 4th for the Americans, so no one at the office), and I have a to do list, but they are of things on want to do, although I never hesitate to take things off the list if I change my mind.

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  6. Doing less for me would begin with sleeping in until 9am :-)

    And, as soon as i get caught up, I might give it a try!

    Thanks for sharing. Enjoy a restful 4th!

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  7. Oh, I do love this idea. We all need to do less and be more.

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