I had a chat with a colleague earlier this week who was struggling with finding balance to deal with illness and work and family, and well, we know the feeling I would say. I suggested she put resting on her to do list for the weekends. There was a surprised silence as this had never occurred to her. Of course I don’t always put the word ”rest” into the weekend plan, but when I know I have a bit of a hectic time in work or an upcoming event, or whatever it may be that will leave me feeling a bit frazzled, I do plan the downtime too. Sometimes that is literally putting “have a nap” on the list, I am comfortable with being the only person on the planet who adds napping to her to do list, it works for me. I like feeling intentional about resting, it is something I really want to do and feel is important.
The usual one that I add into the list is reading. I am a member of two book groups and also use the library lots, so deadlines and reading seem to go together. I feel wonderfully justified in having “finish Marie Kondo by Saturday” on the to-do list, otherwise I may get charged an overdue fee. Heavens forefend!
This week though I have a self-imposed deadline. I discovered that I have read 10 books so far this year, which is more than I expected, but of course it makes a neater pattern of three per month if I could fit in another couple this week. So that is my focus for the week – two more books. One on audio, a self-help style non-fiction: Shawn Achor’s Big Potential and on the Kindle (it’s been a long while since I used it) a light read, lots of fun and easy to have as an alternative to TV: The Strange Disappearance of a Bollywood Star in the delightfully silly detective series by Vaseem Khan.
It feels like a wonderfully productive way to ensure I sit down for a bit every day, or encouraging me to go to bed a bit earlier to fit in some reading time. I have a fair amount of driving and bus travelling to do this week, so the audio book soothes some of the traffic stress.
If I can get them read, I will be chuffed with 12 books in the first quarter of 2018.
