Less and Less….
Why is it so difficult to say no? To let go of ‘good things’ in pursuit of the ‘best things.’
What’s surprising and also incredibly comforting is that for most of us there are few things that we absolutely HAVE to do. And by HAVE I mean we will not die or have detrimental consequences if we let go of them.
I mentioned a few weeks ago that I am taking a class online through UC Berkeley called The Science of Happiness. I’m really enjoying the content itself, however, the class began during an inopportune time where I felt like I had too much to do.
That being said, I didn’t start the coursework for week 1 until everyone else was ready to start week 3 so I’ve been playing catch up ever since. I’m not a fan of feeling behind and I honestly just felt bad about myself. However, a few days ago I reminded myself of a couple of things.
- I am not paying any money to take the class
- My intention behind taking the class was to ‘have fun’ and ‘learn’
- I am not taking the class for a grade
Therefore, I can pick and choose what lessons I want to do. If I don’t feel like reading every research article, I don’t need to. And that’s ok.
So, I was finally able to get caught up. I skipped a few articles, I didn’t take the midterm. The lesson here is that I feel a lot better being caught up than I would have felt completing every single reading and video and still being a week or two behind.
I’ve also been embracing this idea of less in other areas of my life and I hope to carry it through the rest of the year. For example, I’m not going to check out a million books from the library and then feel obligated to read them all.
We all have areas or times in our lives where we need to pare down. Times where we have to be ok with not doing everything or even feeling the need to do it all.
So, once we agree that less is good…what next?
How to choose what to let go of?
- What things or areas of your life do you find stressful?
- What activities would feel better if there were less of them?
What does less look like for you?
