One thing at a time. One thing at a time.
That was my mantra for February and I was woefully terrible at my single-tasking attempts.
Although getting bronchitis forced me to slow down against my will, and reading In Praise of Slowness really made me want to.
The book was rather slow, ironically, but filled with inspiring, interesting information that made me want to hurry up and slow down.
I want to share the ways in which the book motivated me to live more slowly by discussing a few of the areas of book and practical ways I am going to choose slowness, intentionality, and mindfulness.
The Age of Rage // Indulge in road rage less and have more patience with people who slow me down. What is the rush?
Food // I want to cook from scratch more often and frequent farmers’ markets in the summer. Eat at the table, and not while watching television.
Cities // Walk more. Drive less. We only have one car and live in a very walkable (according to Walkscore) area, so I want to continue to make use of this place by walking places.
Mind/Body // Mindfulness. Meditation. Yoga. All good. Do them.
Work // Grow smartly, not just for the sake of growing. Working at home with a toddler, I don’t have much choice about when I work (whenever I can!), but I’m going to work toward taking one day off a week. Ideally, Sunday will be a day free of internet and work – though the idea of losing the day of working scares me now, I know it’s necessary for my mental health and family life.
Leisure // Go for long walks. Read. Less television. Less Twitter. Naps are good for me.
Children // Let him play with simple toys and develop his emerging imagination. No television. Not too many activities. Lots of unstructured time.
Since reading the book and starting to implement some of these, I’ve noticed how much I get impatient with slowness. It’s a work in progress, but I’ve also noticed that choosing to savor gives me more happiness than choosing anger or rushing. (I’m still working on being late everywhere, which is the source of much of my rush!)
[March Intentions]
Seeing as how we’re already a week into March, I think it’s clear I’m a little behind on, well, everything. Which means I’m going to keep it simple this month.
Get caught up, work-wise | Things are going very, very well with Little Leaf. I’m booked until May and am now making more from my ‘side business’ than from my day job. It’s terribly exciting, but it also means I’m on a tight schedule to complete everything. I have goals to improve my customer service, update my website, and complete a business plan, but first: get caught up.
Start training for my half marathon again | As I mentioned, bronchitis sidelined my running for a nearly two weeks. I’d only been running once or twice a week before, so I’m hoping it won’t be too detrimental to my ability to run the entire race. Thirteen miles sounds impossibly long now, but hopefully with 8 weeks of training, I’ll be able to complete it without dying. Advice and/or stories of training welcome!
“There is more to life than increasing its speed” – Ghandi
If it makes you feel any better at all, my “Lent plans” went down the drain as well, thought I plan to make every effort to pick them back up starting now!
I totally feel you right now on trying to catch up with everything you need to do! I’m in my final week of classes and next week I have finals, and all I can think about is everything I have to catch up on and turn in before Tuesday! Can we say eek? I have been so stressed about all the catching up I have to do that I have been getting tension headaches that literally make me unproductive. I have to go to bed early with no light or sound. Sigh.
With that said, I will be home* next wednesday to sunday, so though running makes me feel like I want to die, I would be glad to be your running buddy! My March goal is get in Shape for my birthday! I have two months!
Congrats on all of the business! Maybe one day you will be designing full time and can work from home?! Scary thought, right?
Because of you In Praise of Slowness is next on my Kindle list! I find myself rushing all the time so much so much that simple things like being able to call my mom back or even read a book are impossible. Plus I get really annoyed in the morning with other drivers who go too slow as I am rushing to work because I made myself late. The only person that hurts is me. Not a way to live!
It’s really helped me realize how rushed I am – and for what purpose!?
Would love to talk running with you, lady! Feel free to email me any/all questions :)
I want to read that book. I seriously love those intentions.
It’s a great book! But, like I said, it dragged a little. I skimmed a few parts, which is so anti-slow, right? Sigh.
I need to add that book to my list!
I’ve been thinking of making Sunday my day off from the Internet, a day to take everything more slowly and not be bustling about and doing this and that. We’re always on the go-go-go all the time, so I think it’s a good plan to take one day a week completely off to refresh your mind.
Girl, I did all my training for a half IN eight weeks. Don’t let the last two get you down…You’ll rock it!
That makes me happy. As long as I kick my current bug, I’ll be fine!
internet and social networking have dramatically changed the dynamic of my life as well. I intend to become more in tune with what’s going on directly/physically around me this year. I used to read soooo much… now I just tweet a lot. hahaha
It’s such a hard habit to break! I feel the same way – I used to write, now I tweet. #lame ;)