JOYFUL ABANDONMENT
This is my friend Jenn Orton, gifted writer, teacher of teachers, and one of the most positive and effective women I know. She inspires me. She built herself a writing cabin and she does something creative, something generous, and something useful every single day.
I was visiting some her schools (farmer’s have cattle, fields–Jenn grows schools) and when I got in the car Jenn said she had a new concept she knew I would love: Joyful Abandonment. “It comes with a little dance,” she said. She demonstrated the top half of the dance while driving to Baldwin.
We have been told if we want more time–more time to write, more time to be, more time to read, more time for ourselves, more time for anything–we have to say No. It would be so lovely if saying No were easy. It’s impossible to say no. We get in trouble, things fall apart, we get fired, or more fired, or people hate us. Or, the guilt just makes it not even worth it. So we say yes, and resentment builds.
Try Joyful Abandonment! Instead of saying No you refuse to do things you really do not have to do (the newsletter, the photo essay, the meetings that other people like and are much better at, the children’s social dance class car pool, the cookies thing) . And you don’t just refuse. YOU JOYFULLY ABANDON THE ENTIRE CONCEPT! You don’t say No and then groove on self loathing. Ugh.
Joyful Abandonment means you never said yes in the first place.
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