The Friday list (nice things you did for yourself this week)
This was a week of clearing out clutter, both from my office and from my life, all with an eye toward relieving some stress. Because it became clear to me last weekend that one of the reasons I’ve been feeling like I don’t have time to do all the things I want to do every day is that I’ve added a bunch of new activities and responsibilities to my life without cutting away any of the old.
So this week I did a really hard thing: I resigned from teaching a class that I’ve really enjoyed teaching the past five years. It’s been a weekly commitment, not much time, but I always had to plan around it.
And I realized what I want right now is freedom. I’m going to be traveling and speaking and writing a lot in the upcoming months, and what I want is the luxury of some true downtime. So step one was clearing my calendar of a standing engagement. I might come back to it next year, but for the rest of this year, I’m done.
And how about you? What nice thing(s) did you do for yourself this week?
Technorati Tags: The Friday List, Simplify Your Life, Simplification, Happiness, Success, Relaxation, Stress Relief, Pampering
April 6th, 2007 at 6:30 am
I hope losing that class doesn’t hit you too hard.
Let’s see, this week I ate a LOT of ice cream, smothered in caramel. Mmmmm. Caramel.
I also played a lot of video games. SuperMario is therapeutic and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
I think the biggest thing (weirdly enough), though, was that I cleaned out my closet. I’ll be honest: that thing was driving me up the wall, and while it wasn’t too nice during the actual process, it sure is nice now. I can actually walk into it again! (Not very far, because it’s all of three feet deep, but still.) And I don’t have to worry about things crawling out of it. It’s just been a big stress reliever. That is weird.
Hope you have a good Good Friday.
April 6th, 2007 at 6:46 am
I wrote every day.
April 6th, 2007 at 7:09 am
Yay, Diana! I read your post about that yesterday. You’re right–writing is a muscle we need to exercise every day. But I’m still hoping blogging counts when I’m in between books (even though you say not).
Miri, I TOTALLY understand. That’s how I was feeling about my desk and my office. It is depressing when it goes too far into clutter and chaos. And even though cleaning itself isn’t much fun (despite what Annette says), the result is so worth it. It’s great when you can look at your room, office, closet, whatever without cringing and getting depressed. Good job!
April 6th, 2007 at 8:05 am
i planted veggies–six tomatoes, three green peppers, three artichokes, three zucchinis and one strawberry.
each morning i pour a cup of java and visit my little garden and tell them all how well they’re doing, how proud i am of them and how yummy they soon will be.
April 6th, 2007 at 8:15 am
Awww, Annette, what a pretty picture.
April 6th, 2007 at 8:58 am
I treated myself to my morning coffee first before getting the girls breakfast and I didn’t feel selfish!
I planned ahead for once and bought all the Easter goodies earlier this week, so I can write today!
April 6th, 2007 at 9:04 am
Fabulous, Vivian!
April 6th, 2007 at 9:38 am
Wow, Robin, you really had to get tough with yourself to be nice to yourself, didn’t you?
BTW, did you happen to see the RealSimple article about throwing out 50 things, including the stuff in your head? (April issue: “Declutter Your Mind and Think Clearly”)
Link:http://www.realsimple.com/realsimple/content/0,21770,1600091,00.html?
My nice thing: I let someone else drive the carpool so I could stay home and write!
April 6th, 2007 at 10:19 am
Sara, thanks for linking to that article. Perfect! Good for you on the carpool. The world needs our books, and how will they ever get them if we don’t take time to write?
April 6th, 2007 at 11:18 am
I did two nice things for myself and I’m super proud of them!
1) I sent my “what I would do if I couldn’t fail” challenge to Vivian and feel so much better for doing so
2) I joined up a writing challenge over at livejournal. Sort of a NaNoWriMo, but in the spring when I’m a way more productive person. I’m writing, writing, writing and it’s fun.
As for the clutter…still here. I’m going to take a break in the moment and just spend 45 minutes before the kids come home listening to the new Laura Lippman and organizing my papers and books. (Good lord, the books! They’re breeding behind my back, I swear.)
April 6th, 2007 at 11:46 am
I’m so happy for you, Kelly! Especially on item 2. And good luck on the cleaning. It’s amazing how much you can clear in just 45 minutes.
April 6th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Signed the lease on a niiiiiiiiiiice apartment.
Applied to a couple PERFECT jobs. (fingers crossed!!!)
Went to a baseball game and screamed my head off, despite having a cold and it being 35 degrees outside.
And tonight we’re going to see Grindhouse.
It was a pretty good week…
April 6th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
Congratulations, Lizzie! Great news on the apartment. And good luck on the perfect jobs!
April 6th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
Tonight I went out of my way to pick up a pizza at my absolute favorite local place (it’s hard to find decent pizza when you’re a New England transplant in Northern California - trust me on this), and then I opened up a moderately nice bottle of wine to have with it. And very shortly I’m going to sit down with the newest Julia Spencer-Fleming, an adult mystery series that I enjoy. Creature comforts all the way!
April 6th, 2007 at 7:07 pm
Jen, that sounds wonderful! How decadent. Love a full-on pampering night like that. Thanks for setting a great example.
April 6th, 2007 at 7:36 pm
I got rid of 4 trash bags of old clothes!
I started reading A Drowned Maiden’s Hair, and only 7 chapters in I can tell this is going to be something nice I did for myself.
And I drove up to Massachusetts to spend the weekend with my parents. I haven’t been here since February, so this visit was overdue.
April 6th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
Sweet, Nancy! It’s nice to spend time with your parents because you want to, huh?
April 6th, 2007 at 9:14 pm
SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH ME, ’cause I find this so hard to answer every week! And, of course, now I sound like a martyr, but, damn, it’s challenging. Sigh . . . still thinking . . .
Thanks for challenging me…
April 7th, 2007 at 8:08 am
Jules, I’m SURE you do nice things for yourself, you just aren’t thinking of them at the time. Whenever you go to bed a little earlier to give yourself a good night’s sleep, or when you go out of your way (like Jen) to feed yourself something you really want, you’re being nice.
And if you’re not doing things like that for yourself yet, then maybe it’s time!
April 8th, 2007 at 4:54 am
I had a yard sale Friday and Saturday. Got rid of a bunch of stuff and made a decent pile of dough. Nice when the cleanout has such tangible results.
I’ll probably have to have two more just to get to a point where I can walk in my front room without holding my breath. It’s supposed to be the living room but it turned into the vintage version of Imelda Marcos’ closet.