We all know a do-er or three – or perhaps you are one? Leave quietly now, please. (Just kidding – we’re a friendly little group here, made up of………me).

The do-ers are the ones with the ironing done, the car cleaned, the papers sorted,  the plants planted, the cards posted, the emails replied to, the big food shopping done, the debts repaid, the dog walked, the dog wormed, the dog vaccinated, the house tidied, the holes filled, the cracks sealed, the walls painted, the wiring re-done, the heating installed, the money earned to re-do the wiring and install the heating –

AND – they work out, they socialize, they mingle, they meet, they travel, they go skiing, they break a leg and wish they hadn’t gone skiing, they can no longer drive and have to find someone else to ferry them around, they can’t clean the car or tidy the house so have to delegate, which must be hard for them because they’re used to being in charge. I can see a moral trying to scrabble it’s way out of the filth here. Not sure if it’s don’t go skiing, or something else.

Much as I like being a be-er rather than a do-er, sadly for us (that’s me and my follower, who is no longer following because she hasn’t fixed her computer, and you of course – although you is currently fictitious), the world is not sympathetic to the dreamers and dawdlers, the undecided, the ditherers, the anxious and fearful, the procrastinators – though there’s a ray of hope!

A lot of books on writing (ok, the three or four that I have read) talk about procrastination, and what a problem it is for writers, and ways of overcoming it – which of course I can’t remember. I think it’s usually something like: Just write. Any old thing to begin with, and after a few minutes of that you’ll suddenly find you’re J.K.Rowling – but procrastination is a respectable occupation – hang on, if you’re putting things off, you’re not occupied are you? That one’s making me feel sick – too complicated.

So if you’re feeling guilty for procrastinating all the time – for not having paid the electricity bill because that involves yet more phone calls to the electricity company and the bank, for not having taken your sewing machine to be fixed, for not having looked at flights for Christmas – don’t be too hard on yourself. It seems like the do-ers rule the world, but without the be-ers, there would be no need to differentiate, so there wouldn’t be do-ers.
You are probably a sensitive person, a good listener, and my favourite – an ARTIST!

It doesn’t matter if  you haven’t found your “thing” – though I do envy people who have.
While the do-ers are whizzing around in an endless spin cycle, getting everything done, and then doing it all again, we are noticing the reds and oranges of a leaf, the brown tinge on a beetle, the way the light through the window makes shadows on the curtains like a pastel drawing, the tick of the clock; we notice the grey clouds and how they affect our mood, how the flowers and plants along the same stoney path change from one day to the next. In short, we are in the moment! We’re ahead of the game here. People are giving courses on mindfulness, and writing books about it, but we’ve been there for years. We were born appreciating the sound of wood pigeons, or the different layers of a perfume. We are the silent majority – ok, maybe that’s a bit strong, but it fits what’s going on at the moment with Trump and all.

The important thing is to be happy, and do-ers win here too unfortunately. Getting things done does make you feel better. If you’re a chronic procrastinator, then I suggest you start with your clothes. I looked it up online recently – there’s a book written by a Japanese woman – I don’t know the title, and I’m not after click-throughs (yet), but it’s called something obvious, like How to Tidy.

She says clothes are the easiest, and she’s right – I managed to weed out a shopping bagful from my wardrobe recently. Her criteria is “Does this spark joy?”. Well, I’m English and we don’t really do joy, so I asked myself “Does this make me feel happy?” as I held each item of clothing. You’re then supposed to say Thank you to your torn shirt or bright pink scarf before putting it in the throw/charity bag. You’ll be surprised at what you find. I couldn’t believe I had kept a shrunken black cardigan that wouldn’t even cover my back. The next easiest category is books, according to her.

Look, we all know do-ers are a pain in the butt, but (sorry about all the posteriors) we can learn from them. And it might be hard for us to activate, but look at all the things they miss out on. As there seems to be a growing interest in learning mindfulness, which must be aimed at the do-ers, we have the reassurance of already being mindful – plus we save money. To spend on learning something that is so natural to us, seems ridiculous.
I think the trick for us is to Be whilst doing – maybe not as hard as it sounds.
“There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so” William Shakespeare