Monday:

Why don’t you ignore the conventions and decide to live an extraordinary life? Diana Vreeland, the woman who inspired this blog series and the woman in the portrait every week said it best, “There’s only one very good life and that’s the life you know you want and you make it yourself.” I simply don’t understand people who choose to limit their opportunities and chances. I’m a firm believer in reincarnation — a story for a much different time — but why waste life conforming to normalcy? Why would anybody decide to live a common life when we all have the potential and ability to be more? Go to Antarctica or knit a scarf or run a mile. Do something that people don’t ever expect of you. You’re going to die one way or the other. 

Tuesday:

Why don’t you stay in bed all day? I never do anything like this; I rarely have any desire to be truly lazy. I like leisure but I don’t much care for idleness. Last weekend, though, I was simply not myself. I was absolutely exhausted mentally and physically. And so I stayed in bed. I don’t know how many naps I took. I never did anything more productive than shuffle to the kitchen. It was gloriously restorative and I surely won’t do it again for months or years, but I’ll never forget how helpful it was. 

Wednesday:

Why don’t you buy yourself a set of the most luxurious towels you can find? Funny story, when I came home from Mexico, all of my towels had mysteriously disappeared. I can’t find one of them anywhere. It’s not really that funny, I suppose. So I needed towels and found these bomb ass soft ones with gorgeous golden stripes at Target and I’m now living my very best life. They remind me of the spa towels at Las Casas B+B in Cuernavaca. Those were insane. They weighed like twenty pounds and exfoliated and swaddled your skin. I should have let one accidentally fall into my luggage. But I have amazing Target towels now so whatevs!

Thursday:

Why don’t you download a lecture series by The Great Courses on a subject that fascinates you? I have been listening to these for several years now on Audible, and I have cherished most of them. There was one about the history of English that was utterly fascinating. Last night I ordered one about Mesopotamia and another about North American civilizations that existed before European contact. I can’t wait! And they have video versions, too. This summer I watched a course all about ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, and it was one of the most impactful things I’ve done for myself in years. I love to learn!

Friday:

Why don’t you create a system to track all your tasks that works for you? I love technology, but for whatever reason, I cannot stick to a list on an app. I can’t set reminders consistently. I’ve discovered that I must have a paper schedule. For the past year or so I have printed off a weekly schedule that lists all the tasks I need to accomplish each day and it has revolutionized my productivity. I still complain about procrastination, of course, but just imagine how awful it was before I started this!