Things I Don't Do (Or, "Things Shauna Doesn't Do")

I used to be in a bookclub.  In fact, I used to be the FOUNDER of a bookclub.  La di da, huh?  If you weren't already unimpressed enough, I should go ahead and add that at least 60% of the members of this bookclub I founded, were members of my own family :)

Anyway, it was a lot of fun, and we read a lot of good books together, but one in particular that we read was "Cold Tangerines" by Shauna Niequist.  Have you read it?  I absolutely love it.  I'm not usually a big fan of books consisting of short stories, or "essays", but that is what this book was, and like I said, I LOVED, LOOOOOVVVVVVVEEEEED it.  It was hard to decide if I wanted to BE the author, or be best friends with her.  She's awesome, though.  Oh, and I practically AM best friends with her now, because our bookclub actually obtained her phone number, called her, and was able to talk to her on speaker phone during one of our meetings.  (We're not stalkers...she offered it up on her blog, and mentioned that she was available to speak to bookclubs).  Her website and blog are really fun.  Check her out here.

So besides "Cold Tangerines", she's also the author of a book called "Bittersweet".  This is ANOTHER favorite of mine.  I'm serious, ya'll.  You should read both of them.  If you do, and don't like them, well...I'm just not sure I can still be your friend.  Kidding.  I'd be super interested about what you DIDN'T like about them though.

ANYWAY...
In one of the chapters of "Bittersweet", she talks about the challenge of trying to do it all, and be it all, and be everything to everyone, and achieve your own personal idea of "perfection"...and then falling miserably short.  Then, she talks about how a wise friend once told her:

"it’s not hard to decide what you want your life to be about. What’s hard, she said, is figuring out what you’re willing to give up in order to do the things you really care about." 


SO THEN....
She came up with a list of, "Things I Do", and "Things I Don't Do".


The "Things I Do" list is basically a list of things that are her priorities in life...things she daily focuses on.


Important as that list is, she claims that the "Things I Don't Do" list is even more pivotal.  As she puts it, 


" I’ve discovered that the list sets me free. I have it written in black and white, sitting on my desk, and when I’m tempted to go rogue and bake muffins because all the other moms do, I come back to both lists, and I remind myself about the important things: that time is finite, as is energy. And that one day I’ll stand before God and account for what I did with my life. There is work that is only mine to do: a child that is ours to raise, stories that are mine to tell, friends that are mine to walk with. The grandest seduction of all is the myth that DOING EVERYTHING BETTER gets us where we want to be. It gets us somewhere, certainly, but not anywhere worth being."


click on the link below to read the whole excerpt from "Bittersweet"
http://www.lynnehybels.com/article_things.asp



Having Said All That...


I read that a year ago, and ever since then, I've wanted to make my own "Things I Do" list, and "Things I Don't Do List".  


I think that will be my next blog post.......