Why we need to stop having to

It's like that annoying alarm clock that keeps going off. I still need to get cheese for breakfast, I still need to pay that parking fine, I need to drink one cup of coffee on the birthday of a distant, distant friend, I still need to refuel but I'm already late (most annoying by the way). And at the end of the day, when you're comfortably sitting on the couch with your loved one, you fall asleep against each other. At eight o'clock. Because you're dead tired. Or well, nine times out of ten. And the next day, you just have to do it all over again and if possible, even a little more. In the same 24 hours, yes.

I expect quite a lot from myself. The stupidest part of all this is the word ‘myself’ indeed. There's no one secretly filling my agenda when I look the other way. Like: ha, let's see what she's doing. Nope, it was all me, myself and I from head to toe. This apparently has a logical explanation. The world used to be a command society, where work or things that had to be done were imposed on us. But now we live in a performance society, where we impose things on ourselves to do everything better and therefore are automatically never done. A bit of our own fault, really. But you can definitely tackle all those 'musts'. Here are some ultra easy tips that you are allowed to use.

Plan one appointment per day (or try to)

I didn't come up with this myself, but it comes from Jet's latest book. Just plan one appointment and organize your day as you wish. I try to put it into practice, it doesn't always work, but it's a nice goal. And when it works, I feel like a particularly organized person.

Reserve some time for yourself

One day in your weekend is yours. No appointments, no household chores, no mandatory birthdays, no cooking. And what you do then? You'll see on the day itself. Everything is allowed, but nothing is mandatory. So if you suddenly feel like whipping up a twelve-course dinner for friends you only call in the morning, that's of course allowed. Even though I just said you shouldn't cook.

Choose and do it neatly

Are you sprawled out on the couch and your phone starts vibrating because your friends think there should still be drinks? Just let it go if you don't feel like it. Or that one birthday where you know you'll only give the birthday person a kiss and a gift? Turn it into a nice lunch together. That way, your time is much better spent.

Postpone things

Then you might think: postponement leads to cancellation. But that's not what I mean. Make sure you do everything at once once a week or month. Just think about paying your bills, definitely not top ten material among hobbies. Gather everything and do it on the last Saturday of the month between ten and twelve o'clock, then you prevent the feeling that you're doing a hundred thousand musts throughout the week.