I’ve been thinking a lot about comparison lately. Social media has a tendency to be the highlight reel of other people’s lives, but we so often hold it as the (totally unachievable) standard of how our own lives should look. I so value when people are authentic and real on social media (without swinging in the ‘Debbie Downer’ direction…haha)! Finding that balance of over-sharing and being authentic is so hard when you run a small business, y’all. Recently a few people I admire have been posting lists of things they DON’T do in an effort to be transparent about the fact that no one is really superman/woman. It got me thinking about all the things I DON’T do in order to prioritize what’s important to me. Here’s my (in no way comprehensive) list of things!
1. I don’t watch a ton of TV. Unless I’m sick in bed, I don’t ever watch TV during the day on weekdays (I work from home). We watch a maximum of 1-2 hours of TV in the evenings after my husband gets home from work. We don’t have cable, so I never just mindlessly watch random shows.
2. I don’t keep up with all the news. This may sound bad, but I never watch the news on TV. It stresses me out and depresses me. I also don’t read a newspaper or read 5000 news articles online. I get my basic news from The Skimm e-mail every weekday and then I follow up with trusted online news articles when I want more information.
3. I don’t cook everyday. My husband is really amazing at helping cook dinner. In recent years I can definitely say that he cooks more than I do. Also though, we cook bigger meals a few times a week and then eat leftovers as much as possible. That’s basically our secret to success. I’m always thrown off when people say they don’t eat leftovers…like how is that even a thing? ;)
4. I don’t keep up with ALL the social media. I don’t remember the password to my Twitter account; I’ve never jumped on the Snapchat bandwagon; and I honestly don’t get on Pinterest very often either. I’m mostly just an Instagram gal and occasionally scroll through Facebook (I mostly use it for business stuff & to see pictures of my adorable nieces/nephew). I also take a break from Instagram every weekend (seriously, if you’ve never done this—try it!). I should mention that I don’t follow a ton of people on social media, so there’s really just not a ton to see. I got rid of over 50% of my Facebook friends earlier this year, and I only follow a couple hundred people on Instagram.
5. I don’t exercise for hours. I exercise on average 3-4 times a week for 30-50 minutes. I’ve never been a gym rat, so all my workouts are done at home using DVDs, dumbbells, and a few other random pieces of gym equipment that I’ve acquired over the years. I’m not trying to be a body builder or a pro athlete; I’m just trying to get stronger and healthier.
6. I don’t wash/style my hair everyday. I stopped washing my hair daily sometime in graduate school. I now only wash it about once a week, and I typically style it even less than that. I generally just tie it in a knot and go about my life.
7. I don’t have a complicated ‘beauty regimen.’ I haven’t painted my nails since college, and I haven’t had my nails done professionally since high school prom (nope, not even for my wedding!). I also haven’t dyed my hair since circa 2000. Oh, and I definitely don’t wear make-up everyday. When I do wear make-up, it takes about two minutes and is very very basic.
8. I don’t have any notifications on my phone. The only time my phone makes any noise is when I set a reminder alarm for myself or when someone calls/texts me. Having little dings go off all day long would drive me insane (and take up waaaay too much of my time). I check my e-mail a couple times a day and frequently ‘unsubscribe’ from various e-mail lists.
9. I don’t read a ton of blogs. I used to read 2-3 home improvement blogs every day, religiously. Now I basically just read blog posts from a handful of people as they peak my interest.
10. I don’t buy fancy gifts. Birthday/Christmas gifts for the nieces/nephews are typically purchased off Amazon or Etsy and sent directly to them. For wedding/baby gifts we typically just buy people a Target gift card and call it a day.
11. I don’t take custom orders. I used to do a lot of custom orders for my ETSY shop, but it’s just not something I have time or energy for anymore. They tend to be very time consuming, and I was never very good at charging as much as I should. Although I haven’t opened up my stationery shop yet, I’m not planning on doing custom work for that either.
12. I don’t DIY EVERYTHING. When you run a handmade business and have a husband who built half the furniture in your house, people assume you can (and do) DIY ALL THE THINGS. haha I love to do the occasional DIY project, but it’s not something I do all that frequently anymore.
13. I don’t re-decorate every season. When my husband and I first got married and I moved into an actual house for the first time since high school, I re-decorated certain areas of our home for every holiday/season. It was exhausting and it required us to have a ton of home décor that only got used a few weeks/months out of the year. Now I basically just decorate for Christmas. For the most part I like the way our home is decorated and I’m happy to keep it that way year-round. I do little things like switch out the centerpiece on the dining table, change out the wreath on the front door, and move throw pillows around to keep things fresh.
14. I don’t run errands all over town. Baton Rouge traffic can be so ridiculous, y’all. If I have an errand to run across town, I try to save it until I have a couple things I can get done in that area, or until we are over there for something else. My husband works downtown and will often do little things on his way home when they happen to be on the way (or not too far out of the way).
15. I don’t fill our weekends with activities. We try to keep our weekends pretty low key. We generally commit to no more than 1-2 structured activities per weekend (and often this number is ZERO). Weekends are for relaxing, spending time with family, or working on projects around the house.
I’m a big fan of margin and rest, and I frequently say ‘no’ to things that infringe upon that. Have you ever made a list like this (even mentally)? It’s kind of refreshing, really. Knowing what’s NOT important to you makes it so much easier to prioritize the things that are important!