I am trying to coax myself to work on all kinds of things piece by piece.

Decluttering.

Writing.

Art.

All of it is best done piece by piece but my brain wants to do it in one fell swoop.

It’s taking a lot of practice to pace myself.

I only have one (very fun) commitment this weekend so it was tempting to pack my schedule with all kinds of house projects.

Luckily, my tired brain prevailed and just refused to plan anything at all.

This has turned out for the best as I ease my way into my weekend.

I worked on one project for an hour last night and then hung out with my husband for the rest of the evening.

This morning, I did one chore, did some reading and took a bath.

Next up, an errand and another small chore.

Just taking things a little at a time.

Overall, I need to let go of the almost-subconscious idea that I have to finish everything before I relax.

Intellectually, I know that the tasks I am trying to finish will never actually be done, they are ongoing maintenance-type tasks, but on some level, my brain wants to do them first so I don’t forget about them while I am relaxing. There’s an idea buried in there that unless all the work is done, my relaxation is somehow imperfect.

What a twisty sort of thought.

Here’s to embracing imperfect relaxation and to keeping things as slow as possible.

After taking Khalee for a walk this afternoon I had a sudden need to sit in my backyard swing with some tea.

I’m glad I didn’t talk myself out of it.

I tried to have a slower month in October but it didn’t work.

November though?

November is going to be as slow as I can make it.

I am practicing drawing on my phone and iPad, using a pretty rudimentary program and a not-at-all fancy stylus.

I’m making progress but the results so far are pretty silly.