So, Wednesday night, I hit a wall (and by “hit a wall”, I mean “was close to having a minor breakdown”). Halloween costumes still weren’t finished, I was days behind on 31 Days, I could not see any spare moments in the near future to actually work on anything, and Husband and I were lucky enough to have a date night planned. After I started wondering if I should cancel date night in order to catch up, I realized, for the first time all month, that it was physically impossible to finish all the things I was hoping to finish, anyway. There just were not enough hours in the day. So I said out loud, “Stop. Just stop.”
And so I did. I haven’t spent one more minute on anything this week that wasn’t related to costumes or necessary responsibilities – namely, food or childcare. (Notice I differentiated – Halloween costumes aren’t necessary responsibilities, but I did find time to finish.) We went out for date night, had a lovely time, then came home, popped popcorn, and pretended neither of us had full inboxes or enormous to-do lists.
And now it’s Friday, the last day of 31 Days, and as soon as we get home from Trick-or-Treating, I’m going to celebrate the end of October as if I accomplished my goal. Because, honestly, life is just continuing to get busier, and creating and photographing and writing and posting every single day is impossible. There, I said it. I’ve done it before (here and here), and it wasn’t impossible then, but for our season of life, it is IMPOSSIBLE.
And I am not disappointed in myself. I am actually pretty proud of myself for (finally!) realizing my limitations and admitting that I just can’t do it instead of pushing forward and attempting to make it happen in the wee hours of the night, stressing myself out for something that isn’t LIFE. It’s fun, and I LOVE it, but it isn’t life.
I’m off to put on my costume, stomp around in the rain with my favorite people, watch Toothless and Astrid collect ridiculous amounts of sugar in little plastic pumpkins, and toast the end of October with bubbly champagne and take-out pizza. These are the things of life.
Happy Halloween! See you in November!
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This post is part of a 31 day series. Find all the posts in this series here.
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beautiful objects 
I AM SO PROUD OF YOU.
You posted a lot of great things this month and really highlighted color in a number of great ways. I enjoyed watching what you did and how you did it.
But it’s just as great to see you comfortable with your limitations and enjoying life instead of trying to meet the challenge. The challenge was fun. You had fun, I had fun, and we both made new friends. But at the end of the day, it wasn’t worth driving yourself nuts and wrecking your home life over it. Pizza and champagne, going out with the kids and being relaxed. . . priceless. And the costumes were rightfully a MUCH higher priority than your blog the last few days. I think you did setting your priorities for the time available.
Ya’ did good. Pat yourself on the back (but don’t throw out your shoulder).
Nancy
Thank you, Nancy. I have so appreciated all of your comments this month – I have looked forward reading them! It was so relaxing and freeing to just stop that I knew it was the right thing to do. Now I can actually start reading blogs again. :) Congratulations on finishing October!
You’re welcome. I was so glad we became friends through this.
Me, too, Nancy!
Good decision!! Hope you had a great Halloween!!
Thanks! You, too!
Wow, all of your graphics are sunning. No wonder the name of your blog is beautiful objects. Cheers to you attaining something I never seem to be able to–taking a break from the nonstop to-do lists and simply enjoying time to yourself.
Thank you so much! What you said is making me think – sometimes even the projects (which I love and are fun) – can feel like “to-do lists” too. But they also help me keep my sanity. It’s a balance.