When you're single, in my experience, you get asked to do a lot of extra things. I've even been told specifically that they were asking me because I didn't have family or kids so they were sure I could do it. (AS IF! By the way...I don't work there any more. Ridiculous idiots!) My relationship status is NOT an invitation to pile on the work. Some of us actually have lives outside of work. Hard to believe, I know. (Note the dripping sarcasm.)
With all of this said, I do a good enough job piling the work onto myself quite nicely without help. And so, last week I looked at my life and my pile of self-made work (that used to be fun). By that, I mean that these were things that I loved to do but now just saw as one more obligation. One more thing that I felt committed to but didn't have the actual time for.
I looked at the mess.
I looked at it the way I look at my closets and dresser drawers at least twice a year. You know what I'm talking about. The super cute dress that you couldn't live without. You wore it once and it has, since then, remained in the deepest recesses of your closet. You bought it knowing that you could wear it everywhere and it would bring you happiness and light. Instead, it lightened your wallet by $100+ and has been taking up room ever since.
That's how I looked at my life, or what it had become. And I did the one thing I've never been good at doing (in life or my closets) and said no. I apologized to those friends whose feelings might hurt, but I told them no all the same. I started culling. I felt like I was filling garbage bags full of unwanted clothing! I felt like I could actually see the floor and the walls. I could see space between the hangers!
And so, now I have a cleaned up life. Very simple and zen-like. Kind of. It's clean for now. I know some things will weasel their way back in eventually. But for now, I have some time for me. Not a lot, but enough.
