Some Things Are Never Getting Done

Being honest with ourselves about what we will and won’t do

I recently signed up for a recipe email series with the intention of making all these new meals that looked so delicious. I thought that receiving these emails would inspire me to cook something new and exciting, but I ended up making the same dishes I’m used to: quesadillas, tacos, spaghetti, meatloaf, and chicken with a vegetable. I fell right back into my usual routine.

I do have a few elevated recipes that I’ll throw into the mix sometimes, but when we’re caught up in the hustle of daily life, it’s hard to try something new. We have to consider whether the family will actually like it, gather all the ingredients, and accept that it will take extra time because we don’t know what we’re doing. So, I didn’t end up making any of those new recipes. Eventually, I unsubscribed from the email series so I wouldn’t keep getting those messages every week, knowing I wasn’t going to make any of the meals.

Maybe one day I’ll go back to those recipes. If I feel inspired, I can always visit the website and find what I’m looking for. But for now, I don’t need to be subscribed to a series I’m not using. What a waste of virtual space!

What are other things we need to release ourselves from? What are we holding onto, telling ourselves we’ll get to "one day"?

Maybe we need to let go of:

• A Pinterest board full of projects

• Finishing knitting the scarf we've been working on, on and off, for seven years

• Looking for a new job

• The camera we bought but never used

Sometimes we want to do something because it sounds like a good idea, or it looks fun, but deep down, we know we’re not going to do it.

It’s important to recognize when it’s time to let things go. We tend to want to complete everything we start, but sometimes the real lesson is in starting. Not everything needs to be finished. Sometimes, starting something helps us realize it’s not for us, or that it’s not for the season of life we’re in. We may think we want variety, but perhaps we don’t.

Sometimes what we’re doing is working just fine. The job we have may be good enough. Sure, we could be doing something else, but what we’re doing now is okay. There’s nothing wrong with being content where we are.

Journal Prompt

What's something you've been saying you're going to do that you know you won't? What is something you’ve been holding onto that you need to release?

A Few Things That Caught My Attention This Week

• Dear Diary, on Allyson Dinneen’s Substack.

• What Does It Really Mean to Trust Your Gut?, by Michelle Vartan in SELF. 

• Family Secrets With Therapist Nedra Tawwab on Dear Chelsea podcast. You can listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you stream podcasts.