My current 'not to do' list

Ah, go on. Go on, go on, go on...

In my newsletter last week I mentioned having a ‘not to do’ list. In this week’s post I thought I would tell you all some of the things I am currently NOT doing. There are lots of links in this post. Perhaps check out a few of them? It makes me really happy when people check out the links. Ah, go on…

Here is last week’s post, for anyone who missed it:

Truth and beauty

My current ‘not to do’ list

I am not learning Welsh. Or Dutch. Or Spanish (so that I can sing along to Ay Que Me Abraso and Despacito). I am not relearning the little German I knew, or Latin or Greek (sad face).

I am not learning the recorder (wise choice), the bassoon or the euphonium. Or the piano. I am not relearning the viola or the cello. I am not learning the ukulele (soon though).

Ah, Abbott & Mansfield, you tempting bastard…

I am not learning to draw or paint. I am not learning embroidery. I am not taking one of Emma Mitchell’s botanical illustration and mental health workshops (link broken so changed to Emma’s bsky account for now). I am not working through the Keeping a Nature Journal book by Clare Walker Leslie and Charles E. Roth.

I am not learning Cornish.

I am not learning photography. Or maths, or chess. I am not doing the History of the English Language course that I bought from The Great Courses years ago.

I am not redecorating my flat. I am not sorting out the extractor fan in the kitchen, or putting down new flooring in the hallway. I am not fixing the broken drawer runner in my chest of drawers.

I am not joining the Great Conversation Reading Group’s ten year reading plan. I am not watching all of Overly Sarcastic Productions’ videos. I am not listening to the entire back catalogue of In Our Time with Melvin Bragg.

I am not learning about Baroque music.

I am not doing the Hundred Pushups programme. I am not doing the courses by This Woman Lifts or by Dr Stephanie Ridgway. I am not going back to lacto-fermenting pickles and making sauerkraut. I am not learning to bake better sourdough.

I am not making a walk-in fruit cage on my allotment. Or even a small cage with a hinged lid for the strawberries. I am not making a hotbed, learning about wormeries, or planting saffron crocus corms. I am not trying to grow passion fruit.

I am not reading all of Shakespeare.

I am not learning XML, SEO or marketing. I am not doing the Harvard CS50 course. I am not enrolling on the Liminal Pages editing courses.

I am not reading or listening to all the books on my BorrowBox ‘My Reading’ lists. I am not getting a Hay Festival annual pass or a School of Life subscription. I am not reading and listening to all of Clarissa Pinkola Estès’ books and audio. I am not returning to having a Spiritual Director (yet).

I am not setting up a local Scriptorium, like the ones here, here and here.

I am not going to learn to ride a bike.

I am not writing fantasy fiction for self-publication. I am not taking Ray Bradbury’s advice of reading a short story every day and writing a short story every week (although soon, soon…). I am not reading my copy of the Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism from cover to cover.

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I wish these were the only things on my ‘not to do’ list. The real one is much longer. And I am torn between apologising for all the temptation in this post and encouraging you to click on the links. Go on, click the links!!

What about you? Do you keep a list of things you want to do but don’t currently have the time, money or energy for? What is (or would be) on your list?

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