Downsizing – Commitments & Projects

 

I’ve always had this idea that I had to prove, mostly to myself, that I can do it all.  Well guess what?  Right now I can’t and upon further reflection I don’t really want to anymore.  I’ve done plenty and I can now get through life by doing much less.  So that is what I plan to do.

 

Right now I am focusing the majority of my time and energy on two major areas in my life - my health and my job.  Due to recent events it seems prudent for me to shift my attention in this direction.   My health has been one of those things I’ve focused on but haven’t always devoted a ton of attention to.  At the same time I need to focus on my job for a variety of reasons.  One, it is a substantial part of our current income and provides us with our health insurance.  Second, it can be a great source of stress so I am taking steps to reduce it as well as utilizing my personal time off so I am spending less time there.  Third, I enjoy my job very much and find it rewarding and fulfilling.  It fills my tank.  Fourth, it is how I will complete my plan for early retirement.

 

Next on my list is my family, which may surprise you that this is not number one right now.  My family is most important, however not in terms of my time and energy.  My girls are at the age where they are both very capable, independent young women and they don’t need me as much as they did when they were younger.  They still have my love, guidance and encouragement whenever they need it, but in terms of time and energy they can pretty much do for themselves.  As far as the other family members go they’re on their own and can do for themselves completely.  They don’t need me to do anything for them except occasionally visit and keep in touch.

 

I am going to be perfectly honest about this one, but last on my list is friends and acquaintances.  I flat out do not have the time or the energy right now to keep up on this one so of all the commitments I have this is the one area I have chosen to place on the back burner.  I am not an overly social person, meaning I do not have that need to be with other people.  Because of that I feel very comfortable doing this.  My group of friends is such too that they don’t need to be with me on a regular basis either and when we do get together we just enjoy our brief time together and then go on our merry little way.

 

Along with downsizing my commitments I’ve gone back through my goals list for 2020 and culled it once again by about half.  I don’t need to do a lot of the projects on that list this year and will approach the rest as I can.  I may have to ask for help or even hire a few things done, but I personally do not need to do it all.  And there is no shame or guilt in this decision whatsoever.  As far as I’m concerned I’ve done more than enough to prove myself as a hard working individual.  And I am a good person.  I don’t need to prove anything anymore.  Whether anyone else agrees isn’t important.  I know what I know.

 

Having made the decision to downsize these areas has been tremendously liberating and has made me feel much better moving forward.  It doesn’t mean I care any less about anything it just simply means I have rearranged my areas of focus and where I wish to expend my time and energy.  My girls are completely in support of my decision too and are actually very happy about it.  They have long felt I work too hard and do too much and it is time to scale back on things.  Having them understand and support me in this decision means everything to me.  I feel so blessed to have a strong support system.