Stop doing everything

I recently moved. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that moving fucking sucks.

Moving is all-encompassing. It takes up every moment of your time. It disrupts everything. You don’t have anything you need.

And it takes forever! I still have unpacked boxes all over the house.

In short, moving means you stop doing everything that you normally do.

So, I stopped doing everything.

Now, to be clear, this isn’t a post about how we do too much and ask too much of ourselves. I am not saying stop trying to do it all, even though you should for sure stop trying to do it all.

What I mean is that I stopped doing literally everything. I took time off from the day job. I didn’t do any of my usual habits or routines. I wasn’t writing blog posts because I batch-wrote them in advance. I wasn’t writing outside of my journal. I wasn’t doing my FlyLady cleaning.

I wasn’t doing anything but moving house. And while that was in many ways an awful experience, it was also a golden opportunity. See, once I’d moved in and started unpacking, I could have started up all of my routines just as I had before. Instead, I took some time to see what I really wanted or needed to start doing again.

Some things came back right away

There are some routines that have to come back right away, because lives literally depend on them. The Darling Husband’s medicine routine. The plants watering schedule. And of course, my weekly planning time was reinstated as soon as it could be.

What was needed to live came back without a thought. So did the things I enjoy the most. It was kind of nice to know for sure what those things are.

Some things I stopped, but started up again

When I first moved in, I stopped doing my Flylady cleaning routine. This was practical at first, as it doesn’t make a lot of sense when you’re in the middle of moving. Then, well, life got complicated.

I soon realized that I missed having a clean toilet every day. So, I picked that back up.

There are a lot of little chores and routines throughout the week and month that I didn’t start doing again until I realized I needed them. Which was honestly a bit eye-opening. It’s amazing to realize how much I was cleaning because it was a habit, and not because it actually needed to be done.

I know, it’s flat heresy as a woman to say that something doesn’t need to be cleaned. But hear me out. I don’t care.

That’s it. I will keep my home clean enough. Because if I get to the end of the week with a clean house but empty pages where there should be writing, I’ll consider that week wasted.

Some things had to change

When we moved, we didn’t just move into a new house. We moved into a new living situation. Which is to say we now have roommates for the first time in our lives. And that’s actually been a lovely experience. But, it means that many of my habits had to change. Like casually walking from my bathroom to my bedroom with just a towel on.

I used to not worry about laundry baskets, because my washer and dryer were in my kitchen. So I’d just toss things in when they were dirty, and turn the washer on when it was full. Can’t do that anymore.

I also needed new routines. When do the bills get paid? Where do we put mail that belongs to another roommate? Who’s cooking dinner, and when are we going to sit down and figure that out? Everything had to change because we were now taking two more adults’ schedules into account.

I also have to order groceries more often because we no longer live right next to a shop. There are pros and cons.

Now, you might not be moving anytime soon. And good for you, moving is the worst. But the holidays are here. And most everyone’s routines get thrown right out the window while we’re making magic and memories.

So maybe just stop.

Maybe just stop doing all of your routines. I mean everything. Your morning routine. Your before-bed routine. Your chore charts, face care, everything. Then, see what you want to put back. See what still fits your life in the season you’re in. See if you can do some things better, or if there are some habits you can get rid of altogether. If nothing else, you can rest assured that everything you’re doing, you need to actually do. And at best, you can drop a lot of busywork out of your routine.

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