Doing Less...Buffalo Style

I’m away on a personal retreat and when I look out the window of my loft-dwelling, this is what I see:

Don’t see much? Exactly.

Maybe it’s just me, but there are times when I need to get to those wide open spaces with no dirty dishes, no ESPN blasting from the TV, and no shopping malls calling my name.

One thing I hope to accomplish on my 24-hour-spa-for-the-mind is to schedule my life. Oh, you’re one of those, you’re probably thinking. One of those highly-driven, over-achieving, type-A, firstborn, OCD, Zig Ziglar groupies – planning goals with step-by-step execution details.

The truth is, I’m not. And that’s why it’s the middle of January and I’m just now working on my two-week old resolution. And, further, that’s why I need a little structure to my daily agenda.

I’m not huge on New Year’s resolutions, but I told hubby on New Year’s eve that I wanted to “do less” in 2012. I think he immediately feared for his evening meals. But I put his mind to rest when I told him that I simply wanted to limit my activities based on what I thought God wanted me to do. And I was pretty sure that included cooking for the family.

So, I need to clear my mind of my own agenda. You know, that agenda that consists of doing things because someone else thinks I should, or because no one else would do it, or so people would think I was a highly-driven, over-achieving, type-A, firstborn, OCD, Zig Ziglar groupie. 

Clearing my own agenda means not doing certain things, so I can do what is really important in life. It might require getting out of my nicely-padded, climate-controlled box, where I’ve found a goofy comfort in busyness, doing stuff that doesn’t even register on the “Things That Matter” scale. And, yikes! It might require not worrying what other people think of my choices.


Maybe I’ll be like my friends outside my door right now:  

They didn’t bother to comb their hair for the picture. They don’t get stressed because they missed the last 50% off sale. And they don’t even have a preference for the Super Bowl. They just stand there, looking around … doing less. And only doing what a buffalo was meant to do.

Along with doing less, my other commitment is to write more. So, if you want to check back in a week, you can see what more I’ve written as I look around and observe this thing called “life.”