One of my rules for staying kind to myself is that fixing typos counts. If I can’t be as productive as I’d like to be, I can lower the bar, crawl over it, and call it a day. This attitude is becoming more socially acceptable by the day it seems, and that’s a good thing. But is it cool if I apply the same mentality to my downtime?
The past weekend was perhaps the last chance to spend significant time outside in shorts and a t-shirt. Late September, 29 degrees Celsius? I’ll take it. Especially after yet another mixed summer.
When I went to the bakery, I saw people dressed up for the first day of Oktoberfest, strolling to a place where they’d undoubtedly spend 12 hours or more with their friends. I saw teenagers on scooters with nothing but a tote bag and a phone, ready to hang at the park all day long.
I, too, would have liked to stroll around, rack up 10,000 steps, and do little else besides having a cool drink, perhaps. But doing so would have meant not finishing an article I was close to shipping after weeks of work. It would have meant not wrapping up my Pokémon investments for the next month or two. So, I chose not to.
Instead of throwing my to-do list to the wind, I chose to sit outside instead. I took some short walks, went to a café to do some work, and spent several hours typing in my garden. I didn’t maximize short-term joy or happiness, perhaps, but I’m confident my tradeoff will lead to the most long-term meaning. That, too, is being kind to myself, I think.
Fixing typos counts. Sitting outside counts. Compromise is valuable wherever you choose to embrace it.
