Pottering: A Cure for Modern Life

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When you potter, there’s no need to rush out and buy new things. Pottering is about being resourceful. It’s about thinking on your feet and making do with what you’ve got.

Don’t try too hard. To try and potter perfectly misses the point. Embrace imperfection. When your ambition is slight and your requirements are limited, ditching perfection really helps keep the pressure off. Three years ago, McGovern had a full-time job, three young children and an ageing father she was caring for. She recognised she had “done a bit too much for a bit too long” and decided to use her holiday to take the same day off each week for several months. “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.” Make do with what you’ve got. 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. This means making the best of your situation, as well as the things that surround you. Some or all information pertaining to this property may have been provided solely by the vendor, and although we always make every effort to verify the information provided to us, we strongly advise you to make further enquiries before continuing.I found myself nodding away in agreement as it's pottering in a nutshell but so is the point that not all elements are of equal importance and the emphasis on each will vary person to person and task to task. Yes, you may be pottering doing household tasks but you're deriving some pleasure/satisfaction from it.

DETACHED THREE BEDROOM HOME TWO MINUTES FROM EASNEY SEAFRONT WITH SELF CONTAINED ONE BEDROOM ANNEXE!! There are, according to McGovern, five fundamentals of pottering. First, pottering is about “making the best of your circumstances and the resources you have to hand”. Improvisation and compromise are key here. In fact, there is an element of make do and mend. Though it asserts that reflection is a key to change, the book doesn’t make reflection work unto itself. Instead, it includes low-key reflection prompts, making reflection an enriching part of everyday life. These include asking oneself “why are your pottering?”, with suggested answers: distraction, procrastinating, or avoiding something else.All that being said, it’s also totally fine to plonk yourself down in a cosy chair and enjoy a cup of tea. Pottering is not glamorous. You don’t have to put too much effort in, go very far or even do it with others. Pottering is not a lifestyle concept, and it doesn’t require practice. Just be.

As you enter into the hallway the standard of accommodation is evident and reflects the executive style of homes in the area. It's about switching off from the stresses of the world and being happy with what you've got, living in the moment, appreciating the little things. Many "self-help" techniques (like mindfulness) try to impart a similar principle but because of how they're presented they become a "thing" and just another something that you're "failing" to do or keep up with. Ultimately, I recommend giving this book a read and seeing if adopting a pottering approach would be a positive thing for you. I don't see how it could fail to be a positive thing for anybody and I feel a little bit sad that with the pace of life nowadays we're losing the subtle art of it.

A Cure for Modern Life

Consider the words that define pottering ‘without definite plan or purpose’. Let those words really sink in . . . You have the freedom to make tea any way you like. You be you. No one is going to judge. It’s just you and the tea.” Keep moving. The present participle of the infinitive ‘to potter’ implies continuity, seamlessly going from one activity to another. By being completely absorbed in rummaging, sorting and re-arranging objects, you achieve flow. You are never still. But we’re not so good at taking time out for ourselves. And it costs us. There is plenty of research to show overwork is bad for your health (see here, here and here).

So sharpening pencils when you should be making a difficult work call is OK. Pottering, however, is not to be confused with procrastination. (Home-workers, I think McGovern may be talking to us.) “Pottering is guilt-free,” she asserts. “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.” Whil e pottering results in a constructive, physical outcome (you may have given a bag of clothes to charity or there may be a cake on the table), it’s the “mental rumination” that occurs during pottering that McGovern believes is beneficial to wellbeing. The effect for her was a change in mindset that enabled her to move on from the impasse she had reached in her career.

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. Pottering – a peculiarly British pastime that evokes the shuffling sound of someone (quite possibly in slippers) going contentedly from one thing to the next – is something McGovern is good at. “I think you can lose yourself entirely while you’re pottering,” she says. “It’s a mental break, it’s completely unpressured and it frees you momentarily from all responsibility. It may seem inconsequential, but it has a uniquely restful effect, which I only discovered by chance.”