I'm in the fucking opposite of a lull. You know when you agree to do loads of things with similar deadlines, but kinda forget you'll have to do the things? I AM IN WEEK TWO OF THREE MAD WEEKS OF COMMITMENT THAT I AGREED TO IN JANUARY, AND I AM FLOUNDERING.
I yearn for half term and lying down with cucumber on my eyes for a week. But when I am in the lull, I sort BOOKS and then plan LOADS MORE WORK because I can only ever stop for a day or two or I never get going again.
I had a lull in workload (freelance project manager) in April...everyone was off for Easter/ill. I now find the 'team' are back on full throttle, but I'm down with bug (I can only think it's Covid, but a strain not registering on the tests) as I'm usually full 'contractor mode' (e.g. if I lose I leg it's ok 'cause I can hop to the office). :)
Hubby has Foxtrot Oscar'ed off to Scotland on biz (why does the shit hit the fan... in various forms when he goes away??).
I'm in full Hungry (Pissed) Caterpillar mode today... I've had 3 hot toddies to enable sleep with 4 pillows stacked behind me (bc I missed any sleep last night due to needing water/pee/Strepsils on the 1/2 hour). Thank goodness for mother who delivered Cook supper (and wine... it's clearly genetic!)... I totally cool that I'm too ill/pissed to care about No1 son's first GCSEs today and that No2 son has run away with my phone so he can set up his new iPhone probably to undo all the good work I had put in place to be a Kate Winslet momma and protect him from social media... Honestly! Ho hum!
Right... am off to embrace 'enforced lull' dans ma chambre! TTFN!
Full time job, two young children, so no official Lull but i wfh 3 days a week so I’m trying to claw back some time (to do housework! Fml) I’ve started scrubbing sections of kitchen floor grouting in the evening whilst they’re comatose in front of telly before bath time. It’s painting the forth bridge territory tho. Kid myself it’s like a workout, but with clean grout and a glass of wine on the go
I love a lull. It gives me permission to do those nagging tasks because I reasonably can’t do the big important ones (they’re waiting on other people etc). I replaced our dead bathroom plants, redid our budget and fixed the blown light bulb. Satisfying !
God. I would LOVE a lull. But also know I’m the sort of person who would fill it by falling down some sort of mindless Twitter/YouTube rabbit hole, from which I would emerge 6 months later 10 pounds heavier and with a number of unverifiable conspiracy theories...
Having officially retired at 49 from my very badly-paid part-time freelance job (yes, I am incredibly lucky and my husband is a saint) a few months ago I’d like to see any sort of lull opening up, anywhere! The garden need constant attention, the house ditto. I have gutters and windows to clean and paint, pruning and weeding, the endless snag list from semi-finished building work to do, the mending, dear God the decluttering of the residue from not just our house but the final dregs of the in-laws’ stuff … and that’s before we get to freezer defrosting and making the bag for the Christmas wrapping paper to go in and a showerproof bag for my Pilates mat and listing what’s actually in the freezer, not what might be in there and sowing beans months late. Any Spikers struggling with their lull are welcome to come on over to mine.
This is me right now. Also a freelancer, in a Lull phase. This is what I've done: made a photo book of 2022's photos; had the car serviced; had the kids serviced (optician, dentist); bought sunscreen to be kept in the glove compartment; compared the cost of my Aldi shop with the cost of doing it at my preferred supermarket, item by item (15% saving BUT still need to go to my regular supermarket to top up so couldn't shop at both without the spare time that a Lull allows); emptied all the crap out of the utility room; taken the clothes that the kids have grown out of to the charity shop; wandered bored around local streets and parks. Things I haven't done: meal plans; batch cooking; exercise; emptying dead plants from garden plant pots. Turns out - like the demographic of people for whom lockdown meant having lots of time on their hands, rather than lots of children - it's not a lack of time that's stopping me from doing these things. They're the reason I work - so that I'm too busy to do them.
A very good friend of mine who lives very carefully and frugally and therefore has eight holidays a year has a big sheet on the front her fridge of all her shopping. I mean literally ALL the things she buys. She ticks off what’s needed, running low etc. it’s all very clever. She also has a spreadsheety thing that records 30 meals she can make and it all sort of syncs up with calendars and shopping lists. It’s frighteningly efficient.
She did all this during her maternity leave which she described as her “Lull” !! FFS.
....and I thought it was just me. I couldn't work out if I was just being lazy, bored with life generally or a completely inadequate human being for feeling like this. Am I doing enough? Should I be doing more? Why am I not volunteering to save the children or rescue the cats (I hate cats), surely others don't have time to be bored or lull about? Clearly I am not alone. My husband says I need to understand and embrace what it means to do proper 'fuck all' for an hour or so and stop looking for things to do. He seems to be able to do it effortlessly!!! I should take a leaf out of his book...
I’m with Giles - enjoy it (if you can). Enjoy the pilates , the uniform organising (could be a full time job in my house) and the Heath.
I was in a lull recently and got around to contemplating a third child - despite being too old and knackered. Bootcamp Pilates was a good (better) alternative.
Esther, are you some sort of mind-reader, or what? The lull is currently taking up so much brain space that contemplating it is almost a full time job. A couple of busy work tasks that are incredibly satisfying (to me) to complete are washing all the winter jumpers (preferably in some sort of sandalwood laundry liquid) and then storing them away for the cold weather with those wooden moth-repellant ball things and also, hosing all the pigeon crap off the garden path (appreciate this last one might be a bit niche). The task I actually need to do (but which I quake before) is sorting out all the toys my kids no longer play with and working out what to do with them. It’s the sheer number of Lego heads and playmobil pistols / spears /arrows, the nerf gun bullets, the broken marvel figures &c &c &c *shudder*…..
I suppose I am "fortunate" as with an office-job, I don't get too many lulls. But when my sons are with their father, every other weekend, I have a mini-lull, and I find it is useful to have a mix of social and practical to-dos planned to avoid sliding into the morass of naval-gazing, catastrophizing, and existential fear to which I can sometimes be prone. A great "lull" project is selling rarely worn items online. Also, a proper kitchen organization, with label-maker!
This was very enjoyable especially the bags! We have a Bag-Bag in our house. I’ve been having a Lull for about nine months since I left my job. After initially thinking I had too much time on my hands and needed to fill it, I have now really got the hang of my Lull and get quite stressed if I have to put anything in my diary as it impacts the too much time I have. Pilates at 9.30am on a Monday is the only structure to my week...
Oh dear, yes the lull and busywork. It’s sanity for me - elderly mother living 10 000 miles away and currently in intensive care - stayed for as long as I could, but but there’s family and people here too. If I stopped the busywork and my paid work I’d lose “my sh*t”.
So, cat brushed and matted bits trimmed, stuff mended including buttons being sewn on, tedious, necessary. And many other little tasks that otherwise never get done. Great post, nail-on-head as usual! Much thanks
I'm in the fucking opposite of a lull. You know when you agree to do loads of things with similar deadlines, but kinda forget you'll have to do the things? I AM IN WEEK TWO OF THREE MAD WEEKS OF COMMITMENT THAT I AGREED TO IN JANUARY, AND I AM FLOUNDERING.
I yearn for half term and lying down with cucumber on my eyes for a week. But when I am in the lull, I sort BOOKS and then plan LOADS MORE WORK because I can only ever stop for a day or two or I never get going again.
I had a lull in workload (freelance project manager) in April...everyone was off for Easter/ill. I now find the 'team' are back on full throttle, but I'm down with bug (I can only think it's Covid, but a strain not registering on the tests) as I'm usually full 'contractor mode' (e.g. if I lose I leg it's ok 'cause I can hop to the office). :)
Hubby has Foxtrot Oscar'ed off to Scotland on biz (why does the shit hit the fan... in various forms when he goes away??).
I'm in full Hungry (Pissed) Caterpillar mode today... I've had 3 hot toddies to enable sleep with 4 pillows stacked behind me (bc I missed any sleep last night due to needing water/pee/Strepsils on the 1/2 hour). Thank goodness for mother who delivered Cook supper (and wine... it's clearly genetic!)... I totally cool that I'm too ill/pissed to care about No1 son's first GCSEs today and that No2 son has run away with my phone so he can set up his new iPhone probably to undo all the good work I had put in place to be a Kate Winslet momma and protect him from social media... Honestly! Ho hum!
Right... am off to embrace 'enforced lull' dans ma chambre! TTFN!
Full time job, two young children, so no official Lull but i wfh 3 days a week so I’m trying to claw back some time (to do housework! Fml) I’ve started scrubbing sections of kitchen floor grouting in the evening whilst they’re comatose in front of telly before bath time. It’s painting the forth bridge territory tho. Kid myself it’s like a workout, but with clean grout and a glass of wine on the go
I love a lull. It gives me permission to do those nagging tasks because I reasonably can’t do the big important ones (they’re waiting on other people etc). I replaced our dead bathroom plants, redid our budget and fixed the blown light bulb. Satisfying !
I quite like a cull when I’m in a lull….
A cull of my clothes.. sell some, give some away to charity. Very satisfying
For those of us not in a lull and living locally - can you recommend your new Pilates class?!
God. I would LOVE a lull. But also know I’m the sort of person who would fill it by falling down some sort of mindless Twitter/YouTube rabbit hole, from which I would emerge 6 months later 10 pounds heavier and with a number of unverifiable conspiracy theories...
Having officially retired at 49 from my very badly-paid part-time freelance job (yes, I am incredibly lucky and my husband is a saint) a few months ago I’d like to see any sort of lull opening up, anywhere! The garden need constant attention, the house ditto. I have gutters and windows to clean and paint, pruning and weeding, the endless snag list from semi-finished building work to do, the mending, dear God the decluttering of the residue from not just our house but the final dregs of the in-laws’ stuff … and that’s before we get to freezer defrosting and making the bag for the Christmas wrapping paper to go in and a showerproof bag for my Pilates mat and listing what’s actually in the freezer, not what might be in there and sowing beans months late. Any Spikers struggling with their lull are welcome to come on over to mine.
This is me right now. Also a freelancer, in a Lull phase. This is what I've done: made a photo book of 2022's photos; had the car serviced; had the kids serviced (optician, dentist); bought sunscreen to be kept in the glove compartment; compared the cost of my Aldi shop with the cost of doing it at my preferred supermarket, item by item (15% saving BUT still need to go to my regular supermarket to top up so couldn't shop at both without the spare time that a Lull allows); emptied all the crap out of the utility room; taken the clothes that the kids have grown out of to the charity shop; wandered bored around local streets and parks. Things I haven't done: meal plans; batch cooking; exercise; emptying dead plants from garden plant pots. Turns out - like the demographic of people for whom lockdown meant having lots of time on their hands, rather than lots of children - it's not a lack of time that's stopping me from doing these things. They're the reason I work - so that I'm too busy to do them.
A very good friend of mine who lives very carefully and frugally and therefore has eight holidays a year has a big sheet on the front her fridge of all her shopping. I mean literally ALL the things she buys. She ticks off what’s needed, running low etc. it’s all very clever. She also has a spreadsheety thing that records 30 meals she can make and it all sort of syncs up with calendars and shopping lists. It’s frighteningly efficient.
She did all this during her maternity leave which she described as her “Lull” !! FFS.
....and I thought it was just me. I couldn't work out if I was just being lazy, bored with life generally or a completely inadequate human being for feeling like this. Am I doing enough? Should I be doing more? Why am I not volunteering to save the children or rescue the cats (I hate cats), surely others don't have time to be bored or lull about? Clearly I am not alone. My husband says I need to understand and embrace what it means to do proper 'fuck all' for an hour or so and stop looking for things to do. He seems to be able to do it effortlessly!!! I should take a leaf out of his book...
I’m with Giles - enjoy it (if you can). Enjoy the pilates , the uniform organising (could be a full time job in my house) and the Heath.
I was in a lull recently and got around to contemplating a third child - despite being too old and knackered. Bootcamp Pilates was a good (better) alternative.
Esther, are you some sort of mind-reader, or what? The lull is currently taking up so much brain space that contemplating it is almost a full time job. A couple of busy work tasks that are incredibly satisfying (to me) to complete are washing all the winter jumpers (preferably in some sort of sandalwood laundry liquid) and then storing them away for the cold weather with those wooden moth-repellant ball things and also, hosing all the pigeon crap off the garden path (appreciate this last one might be a bit niche). The task I actually need to do (but which I quake before) is sorting out all the toys my kids no longer play with and working out what to do with them. It’s the sheer number of Lego heads and playmobil pistols / spears /arrows, the nerf gun bullets, the broken marvel figures &c &c &c *shudder*…..
I suppose I am "fortunate" as with an office-job, I don't get too many lulls. But when my sons are with their father, every other weekend, I have a mini-lull, and I find it is useful to have a mix of social and practical to-dos planned to avoid sliding into the morass of naval-gazing, catastrophizing, and existential fear to which I can sometimes be prone. A great "lull" project is selling rarely worn items online. Also, a proper kitchen organization, with label-maker!
This was very enjoyable especially the bags! We have a Bag-Bag in our house. I’ve been having a Lull for about nine months since I left my job. After initially thinking I had too much time on my hands and needed to fill it, I have now really got the hang of my Lull and get quite stressed if I have to put anything in my diary as it impacts the too much time I have. Pilates at 9.30am on a Monday is the only structure to my week...
Oh dear, yes the lull and busywork. It’s sanity for me - elderly mother living 10 000 miles away and currently in intensive care - stayed for as long as I could, but but there’s family and people here too. If I stopped the busywork and my paid work I’d lose “my sh*t”.
So, cat brushed and matted bits trimmed, stuff mended including buttons being sewn on, tedious, necessary. And many other little tasks that otherwise never get done. Great post, nail-on-head as usual! Much thanks