Six Things I No Longer Do

Some things I just don’t do anymore.  I can’t really blame it on the heat…although, lately, I have been blaming just about everything on the heat.  I cannot even really blame anyone or anything, in partiuclar.  If anything, I think it is a new season of life.  Things changes.  I have changed.  And whatever the reason, it occured to me that I no longer do quite a few things that I used to do.  Things that were natural and I did without much thought.  Nothing serious, mind you.  I just found it interesting and, so, I decided to put them down in a post – if for no other reason than to remember exactly what I did at one time!  How quickly I can forget.  So, in no particular order, I no longer….

clean on a schedule.  I have to admit, I do not miss this one at all.  Which is rather surprising to both the organizer lover in me and the “stick to the rules” part of me.  There was a day when I planned my cleaning and I stuck to the plan.  And although this was a bit helpful with time management when the children were little, it could also get incredibly stressful.  I simply had to clean the bathrooms if it was bathroom cleaning day – whether I had time and even if they weren’t that dirty.  Good grief.  Not to worry…I still have a clean home; however, I clean as necessary now.  And, I occassionally don’t clean something until it is a bit past due.  And life continues just fine!

have a tedious make-up routine.  Truthfully, I’m not sure exactly what changed or what in the world used to take me so long, but my make-up routine each morning now takes me about a fourth of the time that it once did.  There was a time when the bulk of my morning routine was doing my hair and my makeup.  Why??  I wear make-up every day and I don’t think I have eliminated things/steps, but somehow that part of my morning is much more streamlined and speedy.  One thing that might, at least, contribute to the difference is good makeup.  I now use healthy and really nice makeup and not only do the products do a better job (and I need fewer products) but my skin is in visibly better condition.  All of that helps when getting my face ready in the morning!

say yes just because I have time.  Let’s face it.  I am in the empty-nest and retirement phase of life.  As with many, there is more freedom with my time and, often, more free hours in my day.  And there was a time I found myself agreeing to opportunities and making commitment because “well, why not, I have the time.”  Even if I did not want to do it or even enjoy doing so.   That attitude becomes frustrating, draining and even leads to bitterness.  Not good.  I have really learned to consider when I want to say yes and am completely fine saying no.  Well, no thank you:)

finish books I am not enjoying.  This one was another tough one for the “follow the rules” girl in me.  Not only did I feel like a quitter when I didn’t finish a book but I just felt guilty…even rude to the author.  Silly but true.  I am happy to say that I have gotten past this.  I am not a huge reader anyways but, if I am going to finish a book, it is certainly going to be enjoyable and worth my time spent.  I do try not to “throw in the towel” too early but, honestly, I can usually tell rather quickly if a book is going to interest me.  If not, I just return it right back to the library.  No doubt, someone else will really enjoy it!

cook big meals.  This is definitely a “part of this stage of life” thing.  For multiple reasons (smaller appetites, odd eating schedules, and less of a daily schedule, etc), we simply do not care for a large family-type dinners each evening anymore.  I try to have a variety of things available and we typically decide in the morning what will be for dinner (as opposed to the menu planning that I once did) but the days of “meat, potato or starch and a vegetable” meals are very few and far between.  Personally, I could be happy with a smoothie for dinner.  Hubby usually likes a bit more than that but he enjoys much smaller meals.  Salads are something we both enjoy.  It is just a different season of life and I am completely fine with less time over the stove.

make excuses.  This one is a bit of a work in progress but, as I considered this post, I realized that I have made great strides in this area.  I am pretty much a professional at making excuses.  Excuses for myself.  I have it down to an art form.  I can mentally create three point outlines that excuse me or give me reason to not do what I don’t want to do (um, exercise) or to do what I know I should not (hmmm – scroll my phone for just “ten more minutes”).  I can make masterful excuses.  But, no matter how logical or brilliant they may sound in my head, I’m learning to identify them for what they really are – lame excuses.  And I am sincerely so much better at refusing to accept the excuses.  So much so, I thought I would pat myself on the back here!

I’m sure there are some other things I no longer do.  As well, there are some things that I need to stop doing but are still a work in progress.  Think…dwelling on the past, worrying about what others think and obsessing about these extra pounds.  But those are weighty issues (ha – no pun intended!) and much slower to resolve than tweaking one’s make-up routine.  Speaking of weighter issues, I am well aware that this weekend was a difficult one for our country.  Signs of a very difficult time in our nation.  I don’t take any of that lightly.  However, I had this post already drafted and I decided to keep things light.  There will be plenty of commentary, blacklash and opinion.  Hopefully, you could get just get a chuckle in today’s post but please know I am in prayer for our country.  For our homes.  For our future.