A “picopause” is a little loving nudge towards simplicity and serenity.

---

In addition to being a food addict, I am also a workaholic. Part of the treatment for workaholism is re-learning how to PLAY.

I used to fill my life up with to-do lists and activities. Even when I travelled to far off lands on holiday, I would make up to-do lists and tick them off so I could have a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day. Or so I thought. Workaholism isn’t actually about accomplishment; like all addictive behaviour, it’s about fear, doubt, and insecurity.

I used to be on so many committees, often leading them. A couple of years ago, I started to step down from these extra projects. I started saying “no” when people asked me to do extra work in my free time. And I even stopped doing some things that were fun to do, but time consuming, like coaching and square dancing.

Now that I have cleared out my schedule of all of the extra stuff, I can do things “just for fun”, with no overall purpose in mind other than to enjoy what I am doing in the moment. This means that I read more books, I play around on my website more, and I write more (including drafting these picopauses). I am also learning about music composition and studying Japanese. But I am not taking any of these things seriously. They are not “work”, they are “play”. And they all surfaced naturally, unexpectedly, and delightfully once I started saying no.