Last week’s to do list was quite typical of my busybody perfectionist mindset. It went a little something like this:

TO DO:

-Buy milk.
-Save the mountain yellow-legged frog from extinction.
-Plan our wedding reception/party for late summer or early fall of this year.
-Train the Jack Russell Terrier we’re dog sitting to not hump the legs of dinner guests.
-Make basil-infused black pepper chocolate truffles. From scratch.
-Clean the bathroom.
-End world hunger.
-Go house-hunting. Find dream home. Acquire said home.
-Download the updated version of Twidroyd after the user-abuse debacle.
-Secretly rework the Netflix queue in husband’s absence.
-Try on new bikini in very low lighting.
-Start and finish eleven loads of laundry.
-Teach 5 year old stepson to speak french.

And that was just Monday morning. Luckily, all of this activity came to a screeching halt when I started to feel sick around 10am. I used to be one of those people who believed that if you thought positively enough, you’d never get sick. Now I like to think that a little dab of incapacity is a healthy reminder that the earth will still spin if you’re horizontal for a few days. A clever little dose of humble pie, if you will.

Now during all of this rest, I worked up quite an appetite, but knew I’d have some serious issues if I were to dive into something too solid and rich. I found a lovely solution in this very simple recipe for miso soup:

Your Healthiest Life: I’m trying to do a much better job at not cramming 50 different tasks into one day, and getting sick definitely reminds me to slow down. I’ve had a few days of good reflection and gratitude time as opposed to execution and goal-setting time. Even if you can’t take too much time off of your schedule, try to make the most of any down time you can get when you’re under the weather. I find these books very helpful and entertaining during my rests:
Simple Abundance, Sarah Ban Breathnach
The Art of Doing Nothing, Veronique Vienne

QUESTION: Do you expect to complete ridiculously large tasks in small amounts of time, or do you do a good job of pacing yourself? If you’re a decent pacer, please share your pearls of wisdom!