Earlier this month I spent a week talking to people about their goals. I think it was therapeutic for them to kind of discuss their goals and really think about the root cause. I mean, how many times do you really get the luxury of talking and being listened to for hours? To articulate your motivations and your vision for your future? And there’s also something great about getting to spill your guts to strangers who you can trust not to tell anyone and who will take you at your word because they don’t know you well enough not to.
This will come to no surprise to you, but I really made me think about my own goals and how I’d like to tackle them. Even just hearing about other people’s goals motivates you to work on your own (there’s probably some startup idea in that, folks). Nothing big, but I have been more motivated to tick off all those nagging tasks that I just let sit on the metaphorical desk of my mind. I have been traveling every weekend since December but for the past two weekends I have been home and I have been relishing it. I replied to emails I have procrastinated on, mailed some over-due packages, gone to the library, went to a knitting circle (and started a new project), built a side table, went through my photos from India, cooked three new meals for dinner, baked my own bread for the week, scheduled a doctor’s appointment (8 months after I should have), hung up my coat rack, organized two of my closets (although Marie Kondo tells me I should do it by category instead), resisted fascism, jogged through Golden Gate Park…And what’s this??—even writing again!?
Here’s the desk I made next to the coat rack I installed.
Here’s India.
One thing I realized from observing other people is they kind of let their to-dos clutter their life. I do this too: I’ll leave a pile of books out that I mean to read or a papers that I mean to work on in my line of sight so I can constantly be reminded to do them….but instead of doing them, I do a combination of learning to ignore them while still letting me feel guilty. (Come on, evolution, how’d you let that anti-adaptation slip?). So it’s been especially nice to run errands all weekend and tidy up some my mental clutter.
Here’s one of my to-do piles. I’ve turned it into decoration (plus coupons to do more decorating).
I am very grateful to get the opportunity to travel and I’ve said this a million times before that I never thought it would be something I could do. But it also, getting to spend two weekends at home has made me so happy. It’s addicting. Like, spending months forcing myself to be an extrovert doesn’t replenish my feeble soul as much as going to bed early after watching an episode of Abstract (my very new favorite thing). Maybe I shouldn’t be fighting this introvert thing so hard and be the crusty hermit we all know I am. I’ll spend all day knitting hats for you and writing reflecting blog posts on overcast days. I mean, look at where I’m sitting right now:
Just a pile of hobbies and tea.
Ps. Resisting fascism as a line item was my favorite part too.