Pottering: A Cure for Modern Life

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It’s as though you’ve lent a sheen of legitimacy to your unstructured downtime by doing something ever so slightly useful,” she says. I would love to see a version of this book that wasn't digital when it is released because I think it will be gorgeous with the color artwork and a book I could see adding to my own collection. S.) is moving around in a relaxed way, doing odd jobs, things that aren't that important, like cleaning out the junk drawer or rearranging your closet. After a period of intensity in my life, I felt I needed some time off and it was incredibly beneficial – more than I ever thought, because I’d given myself permission to have a rest. Pottering—“to occupy oneself in a pleasant way but without a definite plan or purpose”—is akin to fixing a squeaky hinge or making a cup of tea, and McGovern explores the freedom and comfort inherent in such basic human tendencies, though they’ve been crowded out of contemporary definitions of success and happiness.

Photograph: Sophia Evans/The Observer ‘You don’t have to put too much effort in, go very far or even do it with others’: Anna McGovern. The effect for her was a change in mindset that enabled her to move on from the impasse she had reached in her career. When you live simply, you are resourceful; improvising and compromising with whatever you have to hand, from putting together a lunch using the contents of your fridge to creating entertainment out of paper and pencils. If you have been occupied for a while to avoid doing something necessary and you are beginning to feel guilty, you are procrastinating, not pottering.While I'd never have categorised it in those terms myself they make perfect sense as do the examples and explanations the author gives for each point.

A Cure for Modern Life, Anna McGovern explains the British concept and encourages you to dive right in. Over the last few months, I’ve been engaging in an activity that allows me to slow down, take pleasure in small things and rest while still being somewhat productive. In the book The Inner Self: The joy of discovering who we really are, author Hugh Mackay describes busyness as being a health hazard. it seemed to assume a lot — in particular having one’s own space (which i’ve never, read: never, had!The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer.

A couple of months into her new routine, McGovern realised that what she was doing could only be described as pottering. This is a simple book and it asks little of you, it would be a perfect gift for a friend from whom too much is currently being asked. It is an antidote to the rush and expectation of modern life where there is simply too much all the time, a bombardment of stimuli most of which are too distant to be acted upon and merely create frustration and anxiety.Three years ago, McGovern had a full-time job, three young children and an ageing father she was caring for.

Ignoring digital devices means you are not bombarded with messages, information, unrealistic images of perfection…” she says. but the epilogue illuminated how she developed her pottering practice during a time of immense busy-ness and stress and that regained some of my trust. What I have learned from this book is that pottering - if approached correctly, or with the lack of correctness - is indeed relaxing.For example, under "don't try too hard," we are invited to do tasks that are "quite satisfying and useful only but the tiniest margin," like sweeping with a broom, cleaning out old bags/purses, sorting junk drawers, leaving something to soak, sewing on a single button, cutting scrap paper out of old envelopes, organizing key dishes. There are some "rules" to pottering (quotation marks because rules aren't terribly important here), the most crucial being that pottering is to be done without devices- no phone, no tablet, no t. It’s a mental break, it’s completely unpressured and it frees you momentarily from all responsibility. This book is primarily for people who don't know how to potter, or who just don't do it- the type A personalities. And though indulging in a potter while having a think doesn’t sound all that exciting, if the outcome is a feeling of contentment, well, perhaps there is no better way to spend your spare time.