HNY from #The100DayProject 💖

thinking about MORE

Hello, friends, and happy New Year!

I hope you had a wonderful holiday season. I spent mine at home in the Bay Area, working on #The100DayProject Podcast (!), going on hikes and making meals with friends. It was lovely. I’ve had a lot of creative energy lately, so when I saw

Wendy MacNaughton

’s “30 Days of Drawing” was about to kick off, I thought it would be a great way to start the year and get warmed up for #The100DayProject. (It started yesterday but it’s not too late to join – it’s never too late! You can find out more here).

For Day 1, Wendy prompted us to make our own More/Less list. The exercise was originally created by Julia Rothman, the idea is to write or draw a list of what you want more of and what you want less of. Here’s mine:

Here’s one thing I’ve learned: the more I focus on the more, the less I have to think about the less. When my attention and action are aligned, it takes care of itself.

One of my biggest “mores” is casual friend hangs. While I love to host, I often overdo it, spending $$$$ to make an elaborate meal (wonderful, don’t get me wrong) and hours deep cleaning my house, leaving me feeling kind of exhausted and less motivated to have people over – the opposite of what I want!

So earlier this week, when I was thinking about how I wanted to celebrate the gift of a new beginning, it was: 1) with friends, 2) in an easy way. I sent a few texts the day before, cooked a simple soup with ingredients I mostly already had in the pantry, and did a bare minimum quick tidying up. Did anyone notice I didn’t polish the floors? I doubt it! And that simple soup? My nieces – my most important and judicious audience – had not one, not two, but three bowls each. (If you know toddlers, that’s a major win).

It wasn’t perfect, but it was just right. There is such a particular delight in packing too many people in a too tiny apartment, you know?

Do you, like me, sometimes put “doing it the right way” ahead of just doing it? What might your creative practice look like if it didn’t have to be pretty or perfect or if you worked with what you already have?

Sending you and yours lots of love for a happy, healthy New Year. May you live more of your mores and less of your lesses 💓

XO,
Lindsay

P.S. If you’re curious about when the next round of #The100DayProject starts, I’ll be sharing more here in the coming weeks. Plant the seed today with your own More/Less list 🌱 (I’d love to see them – you can share them here in the comments or tag @dothe100dayproject and @wendymac on social).