The following is a reprint of a previously published post. Enjoy!
I have a tendency to get caught up in the stressors of day-to-day life and can let myself get close to the edge. But the one idea that backs me up from the slippery precipice is the notion that I am my own boss. This is true with my blog, my family and my household duties. I don’t have to follow a strict set of rules, I can create my own routines, ethics and guidelines.
Some of the ideas that I’ve been rethinking lately:
- I must blog on a daily basis.
- I must serve dinner at 6:00. (If we’re hungry at 4:00 P.M., then we eat at 4:00 P.M.!)
- I must do the dishes promptly after dinner.
- I must go to bed and wake up early.
- I must have washboard flat abdominal muscles.
- I write about sustainability and simple living, therefor I must get rid of my cars and winnow my belongings down to 100 items.
- I must live my life exactly like every else.
I am a 42-year-old woman who gets to make her own rules. I don’t live in an oppressive society and I celebrate the elastic waistband! Occasionally I choose Mad Men over a sink full of dishes and my life would be a million times more inconvenient if my cars went away.
I am my own boss, and I can live the life that feels right to me.
Go ahead and try it, it’s extremely liberating.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”
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{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Great picture Katy 🙂
Just so long as your realize:
Blogs die if they cease to meet readers expectations.
If everyone is used to a schedule and you deviate from it unannounced, it may cause problems, especially if there are other activities scheduled that depend on the timely completion of the first.
The dishes will eventually have to be done.
Not getting a good night’s sleep can really suck, especially if you have to get up early for some unforeseen reason.
Having a car payment, car insurance, maintenance, gas and oil change bills is a pain in the butt, and it will always make you fight the desire to jump in the car even to go two blocks, which will erase your washboard abs.
Living your life exactly like everyone else … is exactly what everyone else in the above list does. Keep on bein’ you! 🙂 I’m just giving you a hard time. Great re-post.
It is good to remember to Dance Like There Is No Tomorrow—To Your Own Beat:)!
Great post. When you don’t have a job, people tend to assume that your time is always available for them to fill up as they please. I’ve found it very useful to always let the world know that as a self-employed person, I have a very demanding “client” who takes up most of my free time. I just don’t tell them that this “client” is me!
Hi Katy! I’ve been quietly enjoying your blog for a good while now… enjoying all your projects, trips and tips…. and I was even a little upset that you were neither cheap or extreme enough to be on tv… 🙂 but I have to say you really hit something with me today… I really struggle with the things I’m “suppose” to do because I have put myself in that slot…. I like local food? Then I should be able to grow ALL of my own produce then right? and I should dress a certain way, give up my car…. walk barefoot through the forest…:) Thanks for reminding me that this is my life and my rules!
Absolutely! I think more folks should re-examine their “rules.” It’s so liberating to find you can break them every now & then!!
The washboard abs went out the window 10 years ago for me! My “rules” are pretty simple, to love God with all my heart and follow his plan for me. The rest doesn’t really matter.
AMEN!
Yes, there are some rules / standards which are inviolable, but the rest? Out the window!
My husband and I do not live a conventional life, which leads us into chaos occasionally, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love the freedom of going with the flow.
“Flo” is such a fun lady to follow. She can cook up some neat things that if all is too structured we miss the time of our life! Go, baby, go! HA! Just mean–life is toooo short to not be spontaneous at least part of the time. We have enough stuff we absolutely have to do to survive without imposing all “the rules” when they are of our own making. I think Flo is a pretty grand lady!
Some people are so strict about their “schedules”. I can’t be that tightly wound. I don’t try to keep up with what other people are doing or try to be like anyone. The world is full of people who are trying to outdo, outshine and impress everyone around them. That life is not for me!
I like this. My own version is what I call ‘being kind to myself’. That means it’s OK to give myself a break every now and then. I can’t be perfect and virtuous in every realm of my life. Example: At the moment I have a full time job and am doing some very serious training for sports (i.e. pretty much 6 days a week). Add in cooking healthy food, and then it’s all I can do on top of that to just keep my clothing clean and have something to wear to work each day.
That means I give myself a break that the last time I washed my car was………uuh, I can’t actually remember. But quite frankly when I finally have a weekend with some spare time, I’m having a lie in and reading the paper!
Really, a person would have to have OCD to put up a good blog post every single day 🙂
In truth, though, I think it would be harder for you to be you and me to be me if we lived in a conventional, straight-laced town instead of our verdant, freewheeling, ecotopic city-state of Southeast Portland. Which reminds me, you fellow library-lover, did I tell you about my newly organized and expanded Books I Love page?
The Tyranny of the Shoulds.
I was categorically told to forget washboard abs by a professional. 2 Kids have caused some serious collateral damage over here!