What Can You Let Go Of?

In this episode, I share a quick way to find more time for stitching during a busy season. You can listen to the episode below or keep scrolling to read the post instead.

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What is a season?

A season can be different things. For some of you, that might be summer, and for others it might be winter. In other parts of the world, you might not have any weather changes, but seasons might not always be the weather. It could be shifts in your life, especially busy seasons. It might only be a busy three weeks, it might be a busy three months – things are always shifting throughout the year, depending on what’s going on in life.

So when I say season, it doesn’t always apply to the actual season outside or the weather that you’re in – it’s the season of life you’re in. I’m about to head into the six-week summer break that the kids have off school for six weeks, and I’ll be working, solo parenting, running a house, trying to fit my hobbies in and trying to keep the kids entertained. It’s going to be a lot, and I’ve been thinking about how I’m going to find time for my hobbies and for myself. My kids go to bed pretty much the same time as me now, so I can’t really wait until they’re in bed anymore.

This might be you. Maybe you’re about to have a baby, or maybe you are about to start a new job, or maybe your husband is in the military and gets posted away, maybe your husband or partner or wife also works in a job where they’re not home very often, maybe you are single, and you are on your own all the time. Whatever season of life you’re in, I hope this helps you.

Let go of something

The tip today is to ask yourself the question of what you can let go of this season. This is not a forever let go, but there are times in life when you need to let things go, and they can come back later on. This can be anything, but I’m going to share some examples.

Let’s go back to when I first had the kids, nearly 13 years ago now, and the thing I let go of (for years) was ironing. I did not iron any clothes while my kids were babies and toddlers. In fact, I didn’t even own an ironing board. I don’t think I don’t even know if I owned an iron. I actually enjoy ironing, but it did not fit into my life back then. When the kids started school, I started ironing again, and now I like having my Sunday afternoon watching TV or listening to an audiobook and ironing.

For the next two months, I’m going to let go of it is organising or decluttering the house. I do this a lot because we have a lot of stuff coming to this house. I have two kids in school, and they bring home a lot of stuff home. And I have one kid who likes to buy a little random plastic toys or fidget toys. I’m constantly clearing out papers and artwork, and it’s just so much organising. However, I am not doing that in the summer – I’m putting myself on a ban. I don’t want to spend every weekend in the summer organising things that are fine as they are. I want to be able to enjoy my time, so I’m letting it go. For now.

It might sound strange, but your brain will look for things to do, anything to do, other than sit down and actually enjoy your time. Now, if my brain tells me I need to clear out the coffee table, I will tidy it, sure, but organising and decluttering can wait until September. I’m not saying no, I’m saying not right now.

So, what could you let go of this season? Is anything popping into your mind? What is that thing that takes a lot of time out of your day that you don’t really need to do? Is it not going to be detrimental to your day? Kendra, from the Lazy Genius, said she’s letting go of the upstairs of the house, because they don’t spend a lot of time upstairs in the summer. I liked this idea a lot. Are there rooms you can spend less time cleaning and tidying this season, as you don’t use them as much?

Simplify

If you can’t think of something to let go of, can you simplify? For example, I let go of trying to bring variety into our meals. We eat the same food a lot, but I change it up season to season. This allows me to let go of a lot of things, such as trying to decide what we’re eating. I don’t need to think too much about my shopping, and I’m much faster in the grocery store.

Don’t underestimate the time saved when you make decisions in advance. Another example of this is maybe you have a uniform that you wear for the next few weeks; you just wear the same outfit every Monday, same outfit every Tuesday, etc. I’ve done that before in the past, but this is tricky in the UK in the summer, as sometimes it’s 30 degrees, and other times it’s 10.

So think about where you are right now, think about what’s coming up and think about what you could let go of just for a few weeks/months. You can bring it back in in the future (and then probably let go of something else instead).

I hope you found this episode helpful hope it helps you find some more time.

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