{"id":20421,"date":"2021-06-23T10:22:58","date_gmt":"2021-06-23T16:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/?p=20421"},"modified":"2021-06-25T21:09:26","modified_gmt":"2021-06-26T03:09:26","slug":"seek-not-to-be-cumbered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/2021\/06\/seek-not-to-be-cumbered\/","title":{"rendered":"Seek not to be cumbered"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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It’s been a personal project for several years to write fewer things on my TO DO list. I don’t want to be at the mercy of my plans. I want to be focused, but flexible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I began simplifying so I could be more present with my family. As I look back on a couple years of efforts to simplify, I see it has sometimes been a struggle. At times, I resented that it was my own fault that I was too busy. Wasn’t I supposed to be achieving and stretching? I felt sorry for myself when I didn’t allow more check marks to prove my value. I feared that I was limiting myself. It is so ingrained in our culture to be busy that I felt like I was choosing to be lazy. I didn’t trust that I was still “anxiously engaged in a good cause” if I was free in the evenings, available to talk or watch a show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over time, I began to see that clear space in the day is essential. This is the creative space, the spontaneous, fun space, the space for connection. I have noticed that I am producing as much as I ever did, and I’m still making steady progress towards larger goals. The big difference is that I am less weary, distracted, and fragile. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, for the past few years, I haven’t let myself fill every line in the day planner. The idea is to have empty lines and white space on the page. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I like to choose a monthly focus and a few weekly goals. I choose a focus of the month to remind myself that I don’t need to think about everything all the time. This month, the focus is Health. Next month, the focus is Celebrations. Sometimes there isn’t a neat focus word for the month but I write down a word or two to help me see where I am headed. It helps!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week’s reading assignment in the Doctrine and Covenants had a line that stood out to me, “Seek not to be cumbered.” (Doctrine and Covenants 66:10; See also Luke 10:40.) To me this means don’t try to fill life so full, even with good things, that I can’t enjoy the best things. I think it also means adjusting my attitude about the things I must do. Sometimes the most cumbersome thing I deal with is my own terrible attitude. I believe no matter your season of life, your personality, or challenges, that “seek not to be cumbered” is a really good idea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s been a personal project for several years to write fewer things on my TO DO list. I don’t want to be at the mercy of my plans. I want to be focused, but flexible. I began simplifying so I could be more present with my family. As I look back on a couple years … Continue reading Seek not to be cumbered<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,36,20,4,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctrine-and-covenants","category-jesus-christ","category-life-according-to-angela","category-motherhood","category-new-testament"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20421"}],"version-history":[{"count":109,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20561,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20421\/revisions\/20561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}