174 Fewer Things To Do

Whenever someone recommends a book, a Website, a this or a that, I have kept the e-mail in my inbox thinking, someday I am going to read/look at/do that. Coupon-of-the-month to our favorite pizza place, for the last several months. Recipes. Ways to promote my book. Adult services for Wil in a year. Conferences I might want to attend. The name of a painter if/when I could convince STM to hire someone to do something "we can do ourselves." How to use Google +. Introduction from Apple on how to use my "new" iPhone (that I've had for six months). 197 of those babies just staring at me day after day after day, haunting and taunting, so much possibility, so much "help."

Today I went through each, and deleted all but 23. I moved those 23 into a new file and have a bright and shiny, squeaky clean inbox now. I cannot tell you how good it felt to say, "No," to those 174 items I was probably never going to do anything with anyway, but am definitely not going to now. They are gone.

Then, on a roll, I went online and deleted all the holds I had on library books. Who needs the pressure to read a book when, and only when, it becomes available? Plus, I have two million books at home that I own and have yet to read - more unfulfilled obligations.

That is just one of the gifts of turning 50, saying no gets a whole lot easier, and in some cases, it's not even a struggle, it's the obvious thing to say/do. No. No. No.

Say it with me.