Tuesday, May 3, 2011

I'm Decluttering and Slowing Down

After reading some enlightening posts from Zen Habits and Institute of Not Doing Much, I've resolved to slowing down, take time to get lost in activities I enjoy, and rid my room of unnecessary "stuff". Everyday, from the moment I wake up until the moment I collapse on my bed, I try to cram as many productive things into the day as possible. I've always valued efficiency and productivity, which are two inherently positive traits to have, but at the end of the day I'm not satisfied. I always undermine the day's accomplishments and convince myself that I could have done more or spent my time more wisely. Simply put, that's moronic and masochistic thinking. You'd think that I could stop doing something I know is stupid and harmful.
Now that school has ended (prematurely because of the horrific tornadoes that swept through my community) and I don't have to work again until next semester, I will have insane amounts of free time. And for me, it would probably be easier if I just poured salt in my eyes or shoveled a spoonfull of cinnamon in my mouth than have to deal with all of that down time. But I'm determined to do several things within the next few weeks that will, hopefully, reduce the amount of stress I create for myself and let me enjoy the simple things in life once again. The list:
1. Read a book, and don't just skim through it. Really absorb it.
2. Wait until everyone is out of the house, then turn my music up loud and belt out my favorite songs. I LOVE singing (just not so much when other people are around).
3. Practice doing nothing. Yes, I have to practice this. It's insanely difficult for me to "waste time"
4. Declutter my room. Out with old, ill-fitting clothes. Rearrange/get rid of the furniture so that it's simplistic and functional. Etc.
5. Declutter my Facebook. This one is big. I can't muster up the courage to delete it altogether because it does come in handy sometimes, but I shouldn't have to look at my friend's list and ask, "How the heck do I know this punk?" Also, those kids from my old schools that didn't even talk to me when we had classes together? De-friended. Shwang.

That's a good starter list, I think. What would you put on your list? Or are you already laid-back and need to make a to-do list to get things done?

1 comment:

AmadeeKay said...

I need to do the exact oppisite of what your doing lol :) I'm a very creative person, so when I get home, all I do is either read, write, or play piano. I need to start doing something that is actually productive. I just recently started a blog myself, so thats one more thing that will keep me from doing what i'm suppossed to lol