Deciding not to bother.

Excuse the length and tone of this post - it was originally supposed to be a journal entry, but I thought the concept of Not Bothering so important, therapeutic and discussion worthy that it deserved the attention of the masses.


I was sitting there, in shorts and t-shirt, which were suitably tempered by the body through their having had a whole night full of movement and warmth with each other. An after-breakfast cup of tea in hand, and my favourite webpage in front of me. The set up sounds good enough, but it just doesn't work when you know there are things to be done later in the day. You're going to have to get up, you're going to have to leave the house. You've got it all mapped out, you have an image in your head of each of the various locations you'll need to be at later on. There's a checklist in your mind and all the boxes are empty. The rest of the day is a meticulous flow diagram. How tiresome.

So I sat there with my tea, thought about the coming day a bit longer. Then in a sudden instant I thought: "Nah". It's brilliant. In one deft mental maneuver the flow chart melts away, all of the images and locations in your head disappear, you're wearing your shorts and t-shirts again, and nothing exists beyond your warm domain, unless you want it to. The clear well-plotted path you had through the day is suddenly an overgrown and untrodden jungle which you can now machete your own adventurous way of discovery through. Or you can just stay sitting there.

I did this the other day, and instead of banks, libraries, post offices, shops, newspapers, clothes, public toilets, the weather, a sausage roll out of Sayers and impromptu meetings with people I've long grown apart from, I climbed into the loft and read a few dusty books from my childhood under a torch. I listened to music, I read books. My bed was prominent throughout. Also, I was able to drink tea out of a mug, and I stirred my sugar with a spoon, which was made of metal. As good as these small activities were, the high point of the day was still that focused moment of time, a second in duration, where my mind - without prior meditation on the thought - just flicked a switch, and in that moment I magicked a whole day out of existence, making all of those later joys possible - and I knew it full well at the exact moment it happened.


Have you decided not to bother recently? Tell us why it was great. I'm aware there have been similar subjects in the past, but the replies tend to be along the general "I am the type of person who procrastinates" lines. Instead, this is for specific examples of when you decided not to bother in recent memory, and how it felt good. There's a lot of guilt attached to not bothering; heres hoping some positive accounts showing it's good for the soul can help strip some of that away.

Jam it back in, in the dark.