The Art of Doing Nothing and Thrifting

The Art of Doing Nothing and Thrifting

I've taken a crafting break.  I still have a couple projects to work on but was not in the mood.  I just wanted to do nothing.  I felt the need to honor that.  Sometimes, we feel guilty if we spend the day in bed, or on the couch watching a marathon of our favorite show.  Society has tried to impress upon us the need to be productive and busy all the time.  I think that's a shame.  It is when we take a quiet time to ourselves that we actually get that second wind, that new direction, that spark of life.  Last week, I was busy trying to get my errands and some business done when suddenly, I felt tired.  I ducked out and went home. 

Turns out I was beginning to get a cold.  That's a good sign I haven't been attentive to myself.  With a good cup of herbal tea, I cleared the decks for the next couple of days.  I would be in my jammies with a stack of good books.  I would be thinking about my next moves a few months ahead, when the weather turns warm.  You know, planning out what goals and plans I had.  I would also be catching up on some good movies and shows too.  It's a little vacation time you carve into your schedule.  It doesn't have to be big chunks of time.  You can, if you plan things right, to have a little down time at lunch, or skip your normal evening routine and go to bed early with a stack of fun reading or a puzzle.  We all need that little alone time, especially in today's world that runs so crazy and full and incites stress.

There's an art to this doing nothing thing.  I found I could take a lesson from my cat Fuzzy.  Since she became a full-time housecat, she has taken it to the extreme.  Don't get me wrong, she still has a schedule for the important things.  Things like asking for her food, getting up in the morning for her exercise/play time.  In between, she finds the warm and snuggly spots in the house.  Under the dining room table right in front of the vent where the warm air blows.  She also disappears for hours during the day where I will find her under a blanket snoozing away.  

Part of my business is reselling. I love it.  It is to me the best job, next to my writing.   I do Ebay and have a booth at Flory's Antique Depot, so my work involves hunting for treasures to resell.  I will go hunting to find something to restock my offerings.  Often, I have to do a bit of fix up.  I also do some cleaning and then do some research on what prices to set and where I should sell the item.  Ebay takes me photographing and actually listing.  The booth stuff I will have to tag it and take it to the booth, displaying it.  My point is, that even though I love what I do, sometimes I have to take a step back and do what I call the art of nothing.  We all have that.  You may have a job you love, a home you adore cleaning and decorating, and whatever it is, you still need to take that time to step back for a moment.  When that moment hits, I have on hand a stack of books, a few DVDs I've been saving, a special tea in the cupboard, and a fuzzy warm robe.  Just putting on the robe means ahhhhhh...  I am in for a treat.  I am in for a rest. 

Right after my most recent rest, I decided to hit the Goodwill not far from home.  A lot of my readers are thrifters.  Have you guys noticed the bare shelves at the Goodwill lately?  I didn't find much of anything except for an awesome 8-inch cast iron skillet.  It is already sold.  But when I went out that day, after my rest period, I found my excitement was back.  And here's my advice.  Whenever you can, fit in your rest time.  Find your cover and curl up in it just like Fuzzy does.  When you get back to your real life, it will feel much sweeter.