I was looking at my sewing machine and overlocker, all threaded up and ready to go. Next to them lay the fabric I'd cut to make a dress (for me this time!) all neatly folded up, also ready to go. It was all just sitting there, waiting for me to get on and create something. And I thought, "I wish I could spend more time in here".
No sooner had that thought crossed my mind, than another followed shouting at me "WHAT'S STOPPING YOU??"
And that was my light bulb moment.
What is stopping me?
There always seems to be something else that needs doing first. Bottles need to be made up, nappies changed, laundry put on/hung up/put away, the floor needs hoovering, it's my turn to wash up, the chicken coop needs cleaning, yadda, yadda, yadda. There's always something else.
But that something else never gets counted at the end of the day. It never matters. So if it doesn't matter, why am I putting it first? What am I afraid of? That I'll actually get something done that matters? I'll have something to show for my day other than a stack of clean dishes that will be dirty again in a few hours?
If I was reading this post in anyone else's blog I'd be thinking the same thing you are. Stop.
The cleaning, the tidying up..it'll still be there later. Do what you love and you'll be a better person for it.
But is it really that easy?
I stopped doing all the crappy housework stuff last week to get an order out and the result (the dress) was brilliant - if I do say so myself. I was very happy with it.
The house..not so much. I'm still trying to catch up with the laundry. And if you think it doesn't matter, you quickly change your mind when you realise you're down to your last pair of knickers.
Same with the washing up, you can ignore it until you realise there are no clean cups when you want a cup of tea or saucepans to make dinner with or plates to put the dinner on. House work day in, day out makes me want to munch my arm off, but it's necessary if I want to avoid the Mount Everest of dirty undies that's currently staring at me.
I just need to learn to organise my time better. I've made a start by taking a break from Twitter and as pathetic as it sounds, I already feel like I'm missing a limb. I keep picking up my phone before remembering that I've uninstalled the Twitter app. It's a small step, but appears to be working. Earlier when I found myself with a few minutes to spare, instead of picking up my phone, I picked up my knitting. Cool huh?
Oh shut up. It's a start.
