Why I’m Doing Less This Year

Sharing why this year I’m focusing on doing less of the things that don’t matter and more of the things that do in order to be more present with my family. 

Sharing why this year I'm focusing on doing less of the things that don't matter and more of the things that do in order to be more present with my family. 

Why I’m Doing Less This Year

Real talk: I seriously struggle with wanting to do ALL the things ALL the time. Although it’s hard to admit, I’m a serious workaholic who thrives on keeping busy and I don’t like straying from my everyday routine. I also very much struggle with perfectionism and I always have this annoying voice in my head reminding me of all the things that I should be doing/haven’t yet done. And you know what? It’s 110% exhausting.

A few weeks back I scheduled a hair appointment for a Monday morning, and instead of doing what I normally would have did (i.e. rush to and from my appointment so I could get in as much work as possible before picking my kids up from school), I decided to take the whole day off.

After getting my hair done, I treated myself to lunch at one of my favorite restaurants that I never get to eat at, and then I used a birthday certificate to get my nails done. And ya’ll, I felt like a million bucks afterward.

Yes- I felt great because I had just gotten my hair and nails done, but that wasn’t the reason my day was made. It was because for once, I said no to bending over backwards just to get in a couple hours of work and I let myself slow down and just enjoy a day off.

We get so busy sometimes in our day to day lives that I think we all forget that we weren’t just sent here to work our lives away. That we don’t always have to be doing something or be involved with everything under the sun, or we’re automatically lazy, unproductive, uncaring, or whatever other word that society likes to throw out there.

We don’t have to always do it all to have it all, and sometimes doing less is about doing less of the things that don’t matter and more of the things that do. And sometimes, what we really need is to show ourselves a little grace and stop being so hard on ourselves when we aren’t able to meet or exceed crazy ridiculous expectations that we set for ourselves.

[socialrocket-tweet quote=”Sometimes doing less is about doing less of the things that don’t matter and more of the things that do.” tweet=”Sometimes doing less is about doing less of the things that don’t matter and more of the things that do.”]

Last year was a great year for me and my blog. I made huge strides in reaching the goals I had set for myself and I’m really proud of that ( Read: 2018 Reflections ) But on the flip side, there were times last year that due to overcommitting myself, I wasn’t able to be as fully present as I wanted to be.

As I’m sure many of you can relate, my family always comes first in my life.  And as much as I’d love to keep my boys little forever, they’re growing up at a hyper speed rate and right now is the time to be spending as much time as I can with them. When they look back on their childhood, I don’t want them to only have memories of me always working and never having time to play with them. I also don’t want to be the mom that tells her kids everyday “maybe tomorrow” or “we’ll do that later”.

That’s why lately, I’ve been taking a step back from unnecessary busy-ness and have stopped burning the midnight oil to do everything imaginable. I’ve started doing less of unimportant things that eat away my time (I’m looking at you Instagram and Facebook!) and focusing on things that are most worthy of my time.

This year I’m striving to work smarter, not harder, and I’m learning to be more intentional about how I’m making use of my day to get the most important things done. Does that mean that sometimes I won’t be able to accomplish everything I want in that moment? Yep.

But guess what? That doesn’t make me a failure, that makes me human. And I’m okay with that.

This year, I’m vowing to give myself grace, to do less of the unimportant things and more of the things that bring me joy and make me happy. Will you join me?


Is this something you struggle with too? How could you make a change in your life this year to do less of the things that don’t matter and more of the things that do? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks for stopping by!- Cara

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Sharing why this year I'm focusing on doing less of the things that don't matter and more of the things that do in order to be more present with my family. 

14 Comments

  1. I’m 100% with you on doing less for the sake of busy-ness. There are seasons for everything and we don’t need to make ourselves crazy for no reason at all. Love this reminder as we head into a new month (and a new longer-daylight season)!

  2. YES! I’m trying to do this in 2019 as well. I want to do less, and the things I do, I want to be things that fill my cup!

  3. We can never do anything or please everyone, so we might as well please ourselves and a huge part of that is balance. Good for you!

    1. Totally! Balance is a beast sometimes but learning to focus on what’s most important vs time-wasters is what it’s all about.

  4. I think working smarter not harder is SO important. I’ve made a vow to be more intentional with my time as well, and it’s a constant reminder that I have to put in my head. Putting my phone in a different room when I’m spending time with my family has helped. The internet is going nowhere….I don’t need to be attached all the time. Love this beautiful message and so happy for all your hard work paying off for you!

    1. Thank-you! I love that tip of putting your phone in a different room! My husband is bad at being on his phone a lot, so I may have to implement that one for him lol.

  5. Sounds like you’ve got a great game plan! I love the idea of picking and choosing what you spend your time doing so that you’re not overwhelmed with work when you’d like to be spending time with your family. Good for you!

    1. Thanks for the encouragement, Whitney! I’ve definitely changed up the things I spend my time doing in regards to blogging/work. If it isn’t a good investment of my time, then I’m not doing it anymore. We can’t always do it all and that’s okay.

  6. Good for you, girl! I think we all struggle with this in some form or another, and I think it’s great that you’re starting to find a balance for yourself and your family. They’re the most important thing in life anyway, so you you should soak up all the time you can with them!

  7. I can relate to this! I want to be as present as possible, especially while my girls are so young and changing daily. I am the queen of overcommitting too! haha I love this reminder to show ourselves grace.

    By the way, is there a plugin you use for click to tweet quotes?

    1. It can be SO hard balancing everything when you’re a mom and working full-time. Just trying to focus on having more quality time with my family nowadays. And yes, I use “Better Click to Tweet” plugin.

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