As I pack my bag for a swim meet weekend I realize that if I play my technology, books and work projects right, I may not have to engage in any conversation I don't want to. I am not anti-social. I just don't do well in forced social situations.

I used to feel guilty about not getting excited about over the top celebrations, being utterly content with small gatherings of close friends and "settling" for a quiet dinner on my birthday. Surprise parties, vacation cruises and extravagant jewelry bought to mark a milestone are not important to me. Oh, I'll take them but they'll mean more to me if they are given out love, interest or desire and not simply because of a social ritual (click for link.)

I am not denouncing social rituals across the board. There are ones that reach out and grab me but there are others I can simply do without.

I love that my husband asked me to marry him in a rowboat on the Eibsee at the base of the Zugspitze (click for link) and had a ring to back it up. I love the markets, the lights, the festivities of Christmas Eve and waking up at home on Christmas morning. I love being beside my daughter each night until she falls asleep (or I fall asleep first).

The ritual of hauling the clan from house to house on Thanksgiving to eat turkey or on December 25 to eat ham because the calendar says were are supposed to, I can do without. Who has time for family drama because you couldn't make it to a baby or wedding shower or mailed a birthday card out late?

Fortunately, this weekend's swim meet conversations are not forced and I enjoy them immensely. After 5 hours, however, I am ready to revert to my homebody ways and stick my nose in a book, my Google Reader or a round of Word with Friends.

And I do.

I walked into two conversations on Friday where colleagues were discussing what they were giving things up for Lent. I am giving up Vitamin D. I am not doing this for sacrifice or symbolization, but because I went from Vitamin D deficient to almost-toxic in less than 30 days and my provider told me to step away from the D.

If I did what she told me to do the first time around instead of taking the advice of another who said, "you are at least four months away from regularizing your levels" and dramatically increasing my daily dose, I wouldn't need to schedule another lab draw. Ouch. Less learned.

So, who else am I not listening too? The list is too long so let's take the easy route and list some advice I am following:

Exercise. I went to the gym three times this week. The workouts weren't anything for the record books but I did it. Yeah!
Speak. I am speaking in April. Speaking is about as unnatural an activity for me as you can get and this is me trying to take it all in stride.
Cut back. I only went into work early 3 days last week. That's progress and I'll continue to work on it. Promise.

I remember a cross-country ski clinic I participated in a while back. Reviewing a tape of my ski around the course, the instructor replied, "So many things wrong here."

A review of a tape of my days could evoke the same response but all-in-all, there are so many things that are right. If I were a person who gave things up, I'd give up the perspective that "there's something wrong here." Oh, what the heck, I'll give that up anyway and see what happens.

What about you? What have you given up to better yourself or your situation? What advice are you not following? What advice have you taken?

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Taking and Ignoring Advice: A Day in the Life Sunday

Lisa Rosendahl