Permission to Putter
The idea of doing nothing can be daunting. Because we are so obsessed with getting things done and often measure the success of our day by what we cross off a to-do list, being unproductive is a tall order.
With that in mind, you still need a break from the doing, from the achieving and accomplishing. If you won’t do nothing, give yourself permission to putter.
My dog Guinness has perfected puttering. He sniffs things, chases things he knows he’ll never catch, walks around the house aimlessly and will drop everything for a belly rub. On a hike last night, after stopping for a drink of water, he sat right down in the little pool of water where he quenched his thirst. He may have been cooling off, but I think he just wanted to plop into the cool pool, abandon our uphill trek and daydream.
Puttering sometimes has a negative connotation. The dictionary defines putter as: to spend or fill in a random, inconsequential, or unproductive way; fritter away; waste. Some think puttering means you aren’t focused or driven and that if puttering, you probably run late and are absent-minded.
I’d like to suggest that to putter, dawdle or doodle isn’t wasteful, but necessary. It’s a break from the busy and a calming force in a sometimes overwhelming day.
Permission (and how to) Putter
- Flip through a magazine without really reading anything
- Walk around your neighborhood (not for exercise)
- Draw
- Dig
- Daydream
- Make lists
- Browse recipes
- Join Pinterest (always turns into puttering)
There comes a point when busyness not only becomes destructive, but counter productive. Good work doesn’t come from someone who is overworked. The sleep deprived have trouble making good decisions, and when a high stress lifestyle becomes the cause of illness and death, nothing gets done at all.
You are so busy with your ing words; working, cleaning, cooking, ironing, shopping, carpooling, and don’t forget worrying, comparing, competing and perfecting.
You can stop now.
If you were too busy to read this post in entirety, just please read that line above again. You can stop now. If you go to work in wrinkles, it will be ok. If you don’t get to the store, you can go tomorrow. If dinner is fruit and crackers, that’s ok.
If you stop, and nothing else gets done today, everything will be ok, mostly better.
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Love this post. I am actually quite good at puttering. I just need to learn to be OK with puttering. It’s OK to just let “things” go sometimes!
Yep. It really is!
Man, I didn’t need permission to putter, but I’ll sure take it! It comes naturally to me, so I tend to take it for granted. It’s always interesting how people thing my natural tendency to disconnect when I need to means I’m lazy or lethargic.
I do need permission to putter and this title drew me right in! I like the way you zoom in on the truth that a high stress lifestyle can cause illness and death. Absolutely true! Let’s just not make putter into an ing word!
Love this! After my grandpa retired, I remember be would always say he spent his days puttering, whether it was in the garage or garden, and he couldn’t have been happier.
“You can stop now”.
This and the following explanation made me smile. I sometimes think about the people who come to my blog and read 4 pages for 25 seconds each. Sure, maybe the pictures are pretty, but I wonder if it’s me or them that makes them do that.
Anyways, great sentiment on your post. I remember coming home from class in college and making myself lie down on my bed, close my eyes and think about nothing. It resets the soul if you really start forgetting about all that you “have to do”.
I needed this post. Thank you!!!
I love to putter. It’s my favorite Saturday thing. I can get the best things done when I do. I usually start with wandering around just moving something here, something there. Seeing what is going on in my house and yard. And them I suddenly find myself picking up that sewing project and doing a few seams. Or pulling a few weeds. Then I wander into the living room and read for a bit. Or go out for a bike ride. Amazingly things slowly get accomplished that way–no to-do list needed.
With he kids back to school I need this permission! I’ve been puttering for 3 days now; going to stop feeling bad about it!
amen, Amen, AMEN siSTAR!
Courtney…I am SO glad I took a break in the middle of a whole bunch of -ing things to read this. Thank you for permission! Thank you for putting it so eloquently…it’s not at all wasting time, it’s recharging, it’s relaxing, it’s restoring, it’s refreshing, it’s recreating. Now THOSE are some -ing things I ought to be in the middle of, a whole lot more.
Thanks for making me a “tiny bit” smarter. You’re awesome!
Oh, what a lovely reminder!
Thank you for this “permission”! Today is definitely a day I needed a puttering break.
Great post! In Australia we call it pottering. And I love it! You are so right, good work doesn’t come from being overworked, but from slowing down and caring for ourselves and nourishing our creativity. I find pottering/puttering tremendously productive, as it’s the only time I seem to catch up on the little bits and pieces that otherwise wouldn’t get done. I like just drifting from one thing to another with no plan, just doing whatever I feel like next. Thanks again, Kim.
Thank you for this post. I loved your picture of Guinness. I recently lost my almost 13 year old Dobie, and miss him terribly. He was my putter companion. Guinness looks very Dobie, and I was wondering if he is a Dobie mix. Beautiful dog!
Guinness is a rescue dog, so we are not really sure what he is but do suspect some Dobie!
(Un?)fortunately, this is something I *don’t* have a problem with! lol
Love that!
I love the last line, and especially the last two words: “mostly better.” Ha! that caught me by surprise and made me smile.
And thanks for the pic of your pup in the pool. That made me smile, too.
awesome! firm believer in doing very little. In fact I just returned from a vacation with no internet and at least 2 naps a day!~
I honestly don’t think I have EVER puttered. I have always had a to-do list that is a mile long and I feel that I have to do everything on it. Now that I am a wife, mom to 2 toddlers and work full-time outside of the home…my list is even longer and I feel guilty if I am not constantly *DOING* something.
So, thank you for this post. I think we really NEED reminders like this in the middle of our busy-ness.
In order to survive a childhood of poverty, I became an ambitious ‘do-er’ and never allowed myself to ‘putter’. I achieved a great deal, but at a frantic pace that left me depleted. However, my husband is wonderful at just ‘being’ and has taught me how to putter. He is at ease with himself, needs very little and appreciates the simple aspects of life and the individuality of others as a result.
He’s a keeper Kim
Courtney — Love this post. So much of awareness, curiosity and wonder happens in the spaces between our mostly mindless chores and obligations. Thanks for being such an eloquent voice for mindfulness.