A dose of reality for a New Year and the idea of One Big Chore a day

So. A New Year. 2011.

I don't do resolutions and all that stuff...if I want to do something I do it and I do it when *I* want, not on a certain date dictated to by the calendar/the media etc....

BUT this year I have decided to try to be a little more balanced in the way I work during 2011, so as to spread out my work load. Several friends have commented that I seem to do "a lot" and that maybe , sometimes, just sometimes, I overdo it a bit..(Moi? Overdo it? Surely not?)

Well, actually, yes I do. So much of what I do seems like fun, not work, so I don't notice how shattered I am until I have finished. I am not good at doing nothing and never have been!

But, I am aware that as I get older my health gets worse. My immune system is still pretty poor. I still have CFS/ME and although I am so much better than I EVER thought I would be, if I overdo things I suffer the consequences of days and days of fatigue and I seem to catch the weirdest illnesess...like the viral labyrinthitis. The fact that I am a Type "A" hyperachiever doesn't make resting up any easier, either. Lol.

So. I have to recognise these facts. I have to start pacing myself and factoring in some rest time during the day, so as to be able to keep on, keeping on.

So I am going to try to only do "One Big Chore" (OBC) a day, either outside or inside, depending on the weather. Obviously I have a family, a house and business to run and animals to feed etc and they need doing everyday, but apart from that I will try to do only do one chore which is the sort of thing that takes a couple of hours to do. Things like spring cleaning one room, or washing all the windows, or mucking out the MegaHenPen or digging out a number of compost bins and spreading the compost. BIG CHORES. You know the sort of thing.

Previously I would do One Big Chore (OBC)and then think "ooo still time to do ..." and get stuck in to another OBC, even though really I needed to go and sit down with a cup of tea for half an hour and rest. I also want, need to make time to do some of the craft things I so love.


Today my OBC was mucking out the Mega Hen Pen, composting all the stuff and refilling up the floor with bark. I also put down a couple more pallet patios for the feathery ladies and generally cleaned and primped the hen run. I had help from Compostgirl and later on Compostman , so it only took 3 hours rather than the usual 5.

And then I had a sit down, and a cup of tea and I wrote this post.

See, I CAN "do" resting and pacing, honest! :-))

I hope you had a very good 1st Jan