When baking cookies feels like doing taxes

Everyday I have a to-do list. You probably do too. 

And my brain is on fire 24/7 so the to-do list never ends. 

I have a personal side and a work side to keep me organised, happy and clearheaded… or so I thought. 

The work side of my to-do list is very simple - content, Boring Issues, website, community management… etc etc. Average “running a business” kinds of things. 

The personal side would be things like - grocery shopping, washing, book dentist, dishes, water plants… etc etc. Average “life admin, day-to-day” things. 

BUT then… 

The personal side of my to-do list started to include things like..
Journal, paint, draw, bake cookies, go to the movies, read fiction, go for a walk - things that I love to do. 

I made the things I want to do - the things I enjoy in life… I made them a TASK. 

So instead of looking forward to these enjoyable things, they became just another thing on my to-do list. Another thing I had to do. 

…

I read a great post on Substack this morning and it said something like; 

The moments we are bored are the ones that shape us. Notice what you reach for - a pen, a canvas, a baking tray. Those are the moments you need. The moments where there is nothing on your to-do list to do the things you want to do. 

Well I can tell you, it’s not making a to-do list for your favourite things. You may dread them, like I now dread my favourite hobbies. 

I say it a lot in these newsletters but here it is as a reminder, maybe more to myself than to you - Allow yourself to be bored.

Allow yourself to have “free time”. To potter around your house; drawing and dancing and painting and saying “how would I like to spend my day?” 

Give yourself time to decide what you want to do in that moment, instead of making a long list of things you want to do into things you have to do.  

Allow your hobbies to stay fun. Don’t make them a to-do list task. 

Unless you want to turn these hobbies into a serious endeavour like a paid profession. 

That may need a bit of discipline but that’s not what we are talking about here. 

… 

I think for now I will allow myself to have “free time” and then when it comes around I will use that time to choose what hobby or fun thing I want to do during that time. 

Maybe I’ll hate this and end up doing nothing or staring at the ceiling for hours. 

The only advice I can give you now is to keep your hobbies enjoyable. Don’t add them to your to-do lists. 

Fun, creativity, passions, enjoyment, hobbies are not meant for to-do lists. They are meant to be included in your weeks but not as another thing next to “do dishes.” 

Because your passions should not be next to these tasks.

 

Give yourself time to enjoy your passions, but don’t give them the weight of a “task”.  

Your favourite things are not a task. 

They are simply there to be enjoyed. 

Lots of love, 
Penelope 
Xoxo