The Joy of Rationing

I remember my mother and grandmother telling me stories about rationing.

For my mum, it was only being allowed 2oz of sweets (57 grams). For my grandmother, it was everything – from butter to soap.

When I go out for a hike with Mrs H, she very kindly creates a sweet bag. We stock up from a website called aquarterof.co.uk and they have all the classics you and I grew up with; from Cola Cubes to Blackjacks, Pear Drops to Fruit Salads.

I can arrive home from a walk with an empty bag. Other than the Pear Drops (my absolute favourites), I couldn’t tell you what I’ve eaten.

My mum during rationing would take her sweets and cut them into quarters.

I remember Pike, in Dad’s Army, explaining that he got hundreds and thousands in his rationed sweets as ‘they would last longer’.

Just for fun, over the last couple of weeks, I’ve decided to ration a couple of things that I take for granted. Things in our modern society that are available in abundance.

The first is my hiking bag of sweets. I’m only allowed one a mile.

This means less crunching and more sucking, a real appreciation of the flavour. It’s probably better for my waistline, too.

The next is screen time. I’m rationing myself to just one hour a day (I’ve been as high as 4!).

It’s amazing, when you only have an hour, how focused you become. Endless scrolling ceases and focused reading is emphasised.

And finally, ‘Complaining’.

I’m allowing myself to only complain about one thing a day.

As soon as I’ve complained about one thing – that’s it, no more complaints.

I originally planned to do Dale Carnegie’s, ‘Don’t Complain, Criticise or Condemn’ but that’s really challenging and being rationed to one complaint a day is tough enough.

What could you ration?

I’d love to know. Please leave your comments below.

Be Brilliant

Michael

PS Over the next few weeks you’re going to see me promoting and talking about my next Write That Book pop-up group.  Even if you have no interest in writing a book, I’m sure you’ll share with me the excitement of many members of this group who have written, published and are now selling their books.

Much more of this to come in the next few weeks…