It’s the middle of winter here and normally easy activities feel like climbing steep hills. There are a lot of hills in my neighbourhood. Slopes in every direction. I feel a hundred-and-three in the morning and a hundred-and-eight by evening.

If you read regularly you may have noticed that I haven’t written a post for a few weeks. I’ve been hassling myself about that but new ideas take energy. Hassling myself hasn’t been effective, just exhausting.

I could be very worried about this but at heart I know it’s just me and winter. We don’t get along well. I go into partial hibernation.

So although I’m writing tonight, I give up. I give up a little bit anyway. When you just don’t have it in you, do less.

Give up

Not forever, not completely, just cut yourself some slack. If you’re very tired, sleep. If you’re hungry eat. If you’re out of ideas for a bit, stare at the wall. Potter. Read.

Do a little bit

So don’t give up completely but just do a little bit. Last week I threw myself into exercise for the first time in a while and I completely overdid it. By Friday I was cranky and in pain. Two runs, a swim, and two hours at the indoor climbing gym was a bit manic after nothing much for a month. You can laugh, I am. A good daily walk would have been enough to break the inactivity cycle.

Cut your To Do list

Remove items. Not by doing them. Just decide you don’t have to do all of it this week. You won’t anyway. Lots of it won’t be that important. In fact, I think I might even write a “NOT To Do” list, just for fun. How delicious.

Write your NOT To Do list

What won’t  you do this week? Write a list.

My “NOT To Do list” for the week: Tax Returns (this year and last), booking the overdue dental appointment, filling out the form for the coaching I inquired about, running, cleaning the blinds, swimming laps… writing some lyrics for songwriting class (no wait, I want to do that one).

Interesting, writing this list makes you realise what you actually want to do. You may want to “rescue” the items that are honestly important to you.

Accept a bit of chaos

This is embarrassing but tonight I finally threw out the pot of soup that has been sitting in my fridge for a couple of weeks. And an out-of-date tub of yoghurt and some mashed potato. There were other things but you don’t need to know everything… the fridge still needs more clearing but it can wait.

I like it when my home is clear and I know the contents of my fridge. But sometimes you just need to let things slip. If I’m honest the clean laundry pile may not be put away before it is worn again… oh well, worse things happen in this world.

Maybe it’s not winter where you live. In that case, you have no excuse. Then again, summer is just too lovely to waste it cooped up inside folding the laundry.

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