I’m sort of frustrated with myself because this was the action item I was most looking forward to this month…and I sort of forgot about it. For some reason, my brain had told me that “give up something” was the last action item (it was a contender for a while), so I gave up a few things.
First, I took a month off karate. This was a hard choice, but with my new nephew coming along and my spate of random injuries that made it hard to train for my triathlon, I decided it wouldn’t hurt to take a month off. I needed to get back to a place where I wanted to go, instead of feeling like it was just another thing to check off my list. I missed it, but not as much as I thought I would. I do feel refreshed after my little break and I’m looking forward to going back tonight. If anything, I feel like I’ve lost a little of my strength without the twice-weekly workouts, plus I miss my friends there.
Second, I decided to stop accepting review copies of books. This isn’t a hard and fast rule, but I’ve stopped requesting LibraryThing Early Reviewers books, as well as books from the handful of publishers I have reviewed for in the past. I’ve also said no to a number of inquiries. While I really loved reviewing new releases, I’ve found that I was stressing out trying to get books read, and feeling guilty when they sat on my shelves (Sorry Tyndale! I swear I’ll read A Heart for Freedom soon!). I also have found that I rarely want to read new releases — my TBR list is full of classics and other older books. My heart is rarely in a new release (except for you, Carlos Ruiz Zafon — looking forward to The Prisoner of Heaven next month!).
These, in their own ways, did help me work toward simplicity. But I wanted more. I wanted to do an inventory of my house and Get Rid Of Stuff. I wanted to purge my book collection and my closet. I wanted to put up some summer fruits and veggies for the winter. I wanted to eat out less by doing freezer meals. I wanted to make sure everything I owned was being used and serving a purpose. I wanted to go through my budget and figure out where I could cut my spending. I wanted to make a list of the things that were important to me and cut out the excess. I just wanted to get rid of some of the life clutter and focus on the basics.
But I, you know, forgot.
Next weekend (the 8th and 9th), I don’t have much on my calendar. I’m setting aside that weekend to simplify and do the above things. If you’re lucky, there will be some book giveaways here, since I’d rather my books go into your loving hands than anywhere else! I’ll report back on my progress that next week as well.
What are your favorite tips for living simply? What do you do to cut out the clutter — physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional?
This may seem silly, but I once got the advice to make a to-do list every day with only five things, the five things I found the most important in the moment. Never let the to-do list be longer than that, save your energy and worries for the day only for things that are the most immediate. Don’t worry about the stuff waiting for next week or next month because you don’t know what will happen before then, and you don’t want to burn yourself out worrying over something you can’t complete until later anyway.
I like that idea a lot! My to-do list is always forever long. I like trying to check off five things and letting everything else just wait.
It’s a good — but I think tough — call to excise some things from your radar when you know you’re going to have some extra things on-hand (like nephews and injuries). As for the books, I would hate if reading ever got to the point where it felt like something I HAD to do instead of something I WANT to do — man, would that take all the joy out of reading, and I couldn’t bear that.
I went on a huge “unsubscribing” binge over the last few weeks. I’ve trimmed my google reader and my twitter list. And I unsubscribed from a bunch of automatic emails that I had been getting. For me, less coming in means less possible distractions.
I’ve also tried to be more of a mono-tasker. So that if I’m reading, I’m reading. I’m not reading and checking my FB/Twitter feeds every few minutes. If I’m playing the piano, I try to concentrate only on that. It’s not easy — because i LIKE the input. I’m just trying to keep it in its place.
I think it’s more that I feel overwhelmed by my shelves, and I’m not sure why I have non-loved books on my shelves. I only want loved books on my shelves — I’ll never get rid of those! But I can purge the ones that don’t mean anything to me and that I’ll never read again.
I am SO a bad multi-tasker. I really need to learn how to be a mono-tasker a little better. But like you, I also value the input (it’s my #1 strength, according to Strengths Finder 2.0!).
For a while, I was on the ARC bandwagon as well. We get them at the library, and publishers tend to send them when librarians request them so I could get a lot of them. The thing was, it felt more like, “Ooh, I got this book before other people could” than “Ooh, I really want to read this book.” Now I rarely read ARCs unless it really is for work purposes (for example, an adult fiction training I’m planning or to review on the library’s blog). I also prefer bloggers who review a wide range of books from all publication dates rather than just advance copies. It feels more personal and interesting that way. I can read Publishers Weekly or Booklist if I just want reviews of future publications.
I agree about the ARCs being more like Booklist! I hadn’t thought of it that way. I also feel like so many people review ARCs better than they actually are because they are scared if they don’t review them well, they won’t get them anymore.