October 6th - Downshifting

One day Thoreau packed up his writing materials

and an axe and went to the woods

because life was just too much. 

Start quote

A century and a half later, Thoreau's experiment, 

reinterpreted for the 1990s, is called "downshifting,"

a word coined by business writer Amy Saltzman.  

It describes the emergence of a new breed 

of workplace trendsetters who are no longer willing 

to allow their work to ride roughshod over their lives. 

Like Thoreau, these career professionals 

are choosing not to keep pace with their fast-track peers. 

By setting career limits, they're slowing down 

in order to devote more time and creative energy 

to their families, communities, and personal needs... 

Saltzman began tracking the downshifting trend 

in the late 1980's while working in New York 

as a senior editor at Success Magazine...

 

"I found myself feeling increasingly ill at ease 

with the message of a magazine that typically defined 

success in a narrow, self-interested terms."

Then a chance encounter with a friend 

who was working as an editor for another magazine 

solidified Saltzman's misgivings about the fast track. 

As her friend assumed a "Gotta run, I'll call you, we'll do lunch" 

pose before dashing off down Madison Ave, 

she inquired how Saltzman was doing. 

Saltzman told her friend that "things were fine, 

work was interesting, although I wasn't allowing it 

to take over my life; I was doing volunteer work 

a few evenings a week, reading a lot and working on 

a short story that I didn't think would ever get published 

but was enjoying it anyway."

This laissez-faire attitude baffled her friend, Saltzman recalls, 

because she was "unable to grasp the idea that I wasn't 

particularly busy at work and enjoying it."  

But Saltzman had made "a conscious decision 

to take life a little slower." In fact, she'd deliberately 

not gone after a promotion because she knew the job 

would eat up too many evenings and weekends. 

"Besides, while it might have looked impressive, 

I wasn't sure the position suited me at that point in my life. 

The decision, however, had not been made lightly 

and had continued to nag at me. When I saw my friend, 

I realized why. If we weren't always moving ahead 

and aiming for something higher and more impressive, 

if we didn't have that look of constantly being busy 

and in motion, we were somehow boring or even losers."

But no matter what her life might have 

looked like to an outsider, 

the reality of Saltzman's decision to take things more slowly 

was that her "life felt fuller, more interesting and 

more worthwhile than I could ever remember."

By slowing down, 

Amy Saltzman discovered that 

"the fast track shackles us 

to a set of standards and rules 

that prohibit us from leading 

truly successful, happy lives."

When we begin to search for our authentic working style, 

we can make that discovery [on] our own.

End Quote

I had to slow down today, say no to a few things, 

because my body was like "nope".
I even got sick because I tried to keep working. 

From the outside it might seem that I wasn't successful,

but I loved my kids and tried to take care of somethings...

and in my book that is a successful day.

Many people might not think that being a stay at home mom

is successful or fulfilling work, but I know better.

Don't let anyone tell you that you aren't successful

because you aren't following the path they think you should.

You are the only one that can know if your life is 

authentically successful or not. 

You might need to downshift to figure it out.

***

Gratitude Journal

***

1) Robbie. That man did the dishes, and I mean all of the dishes, he took care of the kids this morning so I could get a little more sleep, and now he's mopping the floor so I can do my blog so I can get to bed early. He is so helpful and good to me, I didn't ask him to do any of that, he just did it because he wanted to help and to show me he loves me.

2) It's Friday!!!!!!

3) I'm grateful for excitement. Yardsale tomorrow!

4) Hot water, plumbing, and showers.

5) Sleep.