Stop and smell the ... fishes

We've been so busy the last few weeks. Sander was preparing and then taking the Professional Engineer's exam, Dexter and I travelled to see family in Fort Worth, my nephew turned 1, Halloween, and now preparing to go to the Republic of Georgia.

We have been running from one thing to the next it feels, and really I just want to take time and smell the roses...or point at the fishes.

I have been reading this amazing book called Bittersweet, by Shauna Niequist. If you have talked to me in the last week or so, you have probably heard me reference it as it has so many good, concise ways to say what I have been feeling the last 2 years or so. She is sharing her thoughts on many things, but it is mainly how to accept change well and how to live a life that is meaningful, not just full.

One of the last things I read that hit home was the desire to be a woman who accomplished it all with grace and ease. She talked about her ever growing to do list that finally just said: "DO EVERYTHING BETTER." Wow. It isn't just me that feels that way? I not only want to, but feel I ought to "do everything better." Have a clean house, be creative, raise well behaved kids, be spiritual in all things, go on romantic dates every Friday, have clear skin, etc. She shared that after talking to someone older and wiser she realized that it isn't hard deciding what/who you want to be, it is choosing what you will say no to in order to accomplish that goal.

Say "no"?

Her response to that revelation was to create a "things I don't do list." Her first item -- don't garden. Yes, others gain a great tie to the earth, a sense of the seasons and God's hand in new life, but for her, it just didn't make the cut. That was the point -- say no to things that don't line up with your overall goal.

As I am writing this, I realize this is just the point made at my last MOPS meeting. It was a talk on frugality and her point, budgeting time and money, isn't about saying no to everything, it is about saying yes to your "goals, beliefs, and values." Hmmm...maybe someone is trying to get a point across to me?

But back to that "things I don't do list." It is already giving me so much freedom! Today when I walked into my wreck of a laundry room I thought, "I should be sure and clean this before I leave town." But quickly I realized this was insanity. I didn't have time, neither did it really line up with my overall goal of the week which is to leave town sane and with some energy left to make it through a 24 hour flight and 10 hour time change! So, "will not clean laundry room before we leave town" went on my "will-not do" list. Ahhhh -- baby steps toward sanity.

Off to figure out what else I won't do this week and to ponder what all I can add to my life's "things I don't do list".