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Your Perfect Day

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My best girl Nat once took a class where her professor posed this simple question: What would your perfect day be like? Where would you go? What would you do? Who would you be with? What would you eat? What would you smell? What would you see?

People said things like: go to the beach, sleep in, go on a hike, snuggle with my kids, meditate in the morning, be in nature, eat a big meal with friends and family, read a book. There were a lot of answers, but none of them were terribly extravagant. In fact, almost everyone’s answers involved simple everyday activities. So he then asked, “How many of you have done any of the activities that you just described today?” No one raised their hands.

“Why not?” he asked.

People said that they had to work or that they didn’t have enough time. He asked, “How much time would it take to read your book or to meditate in the morning?” People gave ranges of time, but some were as short as 15 to 30 minutes.

The point he was trying to make was that so many of us have these simple things we could do that would make us happy — would culminate in a perfect day even — that we never seem to get around to. So why don’t we try to do them more?

I know I have a lot of days where I feel like I’m rushing from one thing to the next and feel like I have absolutely no time for things on my “perfect day” list. I’ll get to bed later than I’d like and spend the rest of the week feeling like I’m playing a losing game of catch-up. I hate feeling so frazzled and am always looking for balance. I just read this really great article about the power of doing less. The author says, “But do what you do with complete and hard focus. Then when you’re done be done, and go enjoy the rest of the day.” Doesn’t that sound like a great idea? I’m going to give it a try and see if I can squeeze in more time for walks, reading, and chats with friends and family.

What would your perfect day be like? 


(top image by Sunday Photo, bottom image via i don’t bite)

Last modified: January 10, 2019