The Soft Week Menu: Making Room for Nothing

Hi Besties, I’ve realized I’m very good at filling space, sometimes a little too good. Give me a free hour, and I can find something to do with it. There’s always another book I could read, another project I could work on, something around the house that needs attention, or some tiny task I can convince myself will “only take a minute.” If I’m not careful, even when I’m relaxing, I’m usually doing something. But lately I’ve been wondering: when did empty space become something we needed to fix? After spending so much of the summer reading ahead for the Fall Reading Guide and working behind the scenes on our coloring books, I can feel myself wanting less. Not necessarily fewer things I love, but fewer expectations for what I’m supposed to do with every available hour. Last week, we talked about the tiny rituals that make ordinary days better. This week, I’m interested in what happens between those rituals. The unscheduled hour, an afternoon without a plan, the book I’m allowed to read slowly, and the moment when I don’t immediately reach for something to fill the silence. Maybe creating a simple, cozy lifestyle isn’t only about choosing what we want more of. Maybe it’s also about becoming comfortable with leaving a little room for nothing at all. So that’s what’s on my mind, and on the soft week menu, this week.

This Week’s Soft Week Menu

Reading

• If you need to linger somewhere familiar, continue with your current read: I’m slowly making my way through The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame.
• If you want something short but fascinating, also on my menu: I’m picking up Agatha Christie by Nancy West next.
• If your TBR is starting to feel like homework: Leave the space open, and see what you actually want when the time comes.

Hobby

• If you want something creative without starting from scratch, my pick: Color a page, I’m doing “A Book a Day Keeps Reality Away” page from Bookish Quotes.
• If you want to try something new, my pick: Try some Sudoku.
• If you want quiet without complete stillness: Work on a puzzle, knit a few rows, doodle, or choose something repetitive that gives your hands somewhere to go.
• If even a hobby sounds like too much: Sit outside, listen to music, stare out the window. Your free time does not need an activity attached to it.

This Week’s Focus

Leave some room unclaimed.
Instead of deciding in advance what every free pocket of the week will become, I’m intentionally leaving a little space open.

Ritual

Protect one blank pocket of time.
No predetermined activity. No productivity goal. No requirement to make the time “count.”

Reset

Stop treating availability like an invitation to add something.
An opening on the calendar can remain an opening.

Question to Carry

What am I constantly filling that could stay open?

Reading: I’m Not Rushing This One

I’m still reading The Wind in the Willows, I’m reading slowly, and I’m very happy about it. Last week I shared that I was reaching for it as a palate cleanser after spending so much time reading books early for my Fall Reading Guide, which is coming in September. Usually, when I’m deep in guide reading, there’s always another book waiting. I finish one, pick up the next, and keep going. I love doing it, but when that reading stretch ends, I need to consciously switch gears, or I’ll keep reading at the same pace out of habit. So The Wind in the Willows has become my signal to slow down. I’m not trying to finish it by a certain day. I’m not thinking about how quickly I can move on to the next book. I’m simply reading it when I want to read it, and I think I needed that more than I realized.

Next, I’m planning to pick up Agatha Christie by Nancy West, a short literary biography about Christie and her life after becoming Agatha Christie. I love the idea of following a classic with a little literary nonfiction rather than immediately diving into another novel. It keeps my reading interesting without throwing me straight back into a packed reading schedule. And after that? I don’t know yet. I’m intentionally leaving that spot open and that might be my favorite part. If your reading life has started feeling crowded too, consider leaving one blank space on your TBR this week. You don’t always need to know the next three books. Sometimes it’s nice to finish a book and ask, What do I actually feel like reading now?

Hobby: Coloring, Sudoku & Trying Something Familiar to Someone Else

Coloring is, unsurprisingly, still here. This week, there’s one page from Bookish Quotes that keeps calling to me: “A Book a Day Keeps Reality Away.” I keep thinking about it, so that’s the page I’m coloring. No big plans, I just want to sit down, choose some colors, and enjoy it. It’s also an exciting week for our coloring book series because Bookish Halloween comes out on August 18th. We spent so much of the summer working on these books, and seeing another one make its way into the world is incredibly satisfying. There are more coming, but I’m trying not to immediately jump ahead to the next deadline. Bookish Halloween gets to have its moment, and I get to let coloring feel like a hobby again instead of another piece of work.

I’m also adding something different to my hobby pile this week: Sudoku. My mum used to do Sudoku a lot, so I’ve always associated those little number grids with her. I recently got a set from TheSudoku.io, and even though Sudoku hasn’t really been my thing before, I’m going to give it a try. Maybe I’ll love it, or maybe I’ll discover that my mum has all the Sudoku patience in the family. Either way, I’m curious. And actually, that feels very fitting for this week’s theme. I don’t need to decide that Sudoku is my new hobby or commit to doing a puzzle every morning. I can sit down with one, see how it feels, and leave it there.

I think that’s an important distinction for me. Hobbies can so easily cross from “this is something I enjoy” into “this is something I need to keep up with.” I’m trying to deliberately cross back. Color one page, try one Sudoku, and add a few pieces to a puzzle. Then stop when you feel like stopping. If you’re building your own Soft Week Menu, choose the hobby that sounds good today, not the one you think you should be doing consistently. You don’t have to turn everything you enjoy into a routine.

This Week’s Focus: The Case for Empty Space

I think as a society, we’re very uncomfortable with empty space. An empty calendar, an empty afternoon, an empty page, or even an empty shelf somehow starts whispering that we should buy something to put on it. We see space and immediately think, what should go there? I’m trying to ask a different question: Does anything need to?

There’s a difference between creating a life you enjoy and filling every available inch of it with enjoyable things. I love books, coloring, puzzles, letter writing, and just creating things. But if I schedule reading, coloring, puzzles, projects, shows, outings, errands, and every other pleasant activity into all of my free time, I haven’t actually created breathing room. I’ve created a nicer-looking to-do list. That’s not what I want from a simple cozy lifestyle. I want room for changing my mind. Room for staying longer over a book, for doing absolutely nothing because nothing sounds particularly wonderful, and room for an afternoon to become whatever it becomes. There is a freedom in not knowing what you’re doing at 3 p.m and I want more of that.

Ritual: Protect One Blank Pocket

So this week, I’m adding a slightly strange ritual to the menu, and that’s schedule nothing. Now I’m not saying you need to do this for the entire week, in my case, I’m choosing one pocket of time and leaving it alone. This could be an hour, an afternoon, or an evening. The important part is that I don’t decide ahead of time what I’m going to do with it. So I can read if I want, color if I want, work on a puzzle, take a nap, watch something, go somewhere, or do absolutely nothing. The ritual isn’t the activity; the ritual is protecting the possibility. I think that’s something we’ve lost a little in our constantly scheduled lives. Because if you’re not careful, even leisure gets planned. Sometimes I want to discover what I feel like doing only after the free time arrives. If you want to borrow one thing from this week’s menu, make it this: leave yourself one opening, then don’t fill it.

Reset: Not Every Hour Needs a Purpose

I love a useful day, and I’m a very purpose-driven person who loves accomplishing things. I like creating, having plans, projects, and ideas I’m excited about; so my instinct is naturally to use available time doing these things. That’s exactly why this week’s reset feels important for me personally bacause available time doesn’t automatically need to become useful time. It doesn’t even have to become intentional time. Sometimes it can just be time. I don’t need to emerge from every free hour rested, creatively fulfilled, intellectually stimulated, caught up, organized, or improved. That’s an exhausting standard for leisure. I also think there’s something quietly rebellious about refusing to optimize every part of our lives. So that’s where we can read slowly, color one corner of the page, leave the puzzle unfinished, and sit somewhere comfortable and do nothing worth reporting afterward. A softer life needs places where nothing is being asked of us.

The Question We’re Carrying This Week

What am I constantly filling that could stay open?
Maybe it’s your calendar, silence, or the fact that you automatically reach for your phone whenever nothing is happening. Maybe you keep adding books to your reading schedule before you’ve finished the ones you’re already enjoying. Maybe every weekend somehow becomes a collection of errands and plans. Or maybe you’ve gotten so accustomed to filling your free time with hobbies that even relaxation has started feeling scheduled. I want to invite you to pay attention this week. Notice the moment you encounter an opening and immediately feel the urge to put something there. Then, just once, don’t, and see what happens.

Final Thoughts

This week’s Soft Week Menu might be the least ambitious one I’ve made, and that’s intentional. I’m slowly reading The Wind in the Willows instead of rushing through it. I’m looking forward to Agatha Christie by Nancy West, but I’m not planning everything that comes after. I’m coloring the Bookish Quotes page that’s been calling to me. I’m celebrating Bookish Halloween making its way into the world without immediately asking myself what needs to happen next. And I’m leaving some space open, not because I don’t have things I could put there. Because I’m starting to think empty space is one of the things a full life needs. So when you build your Soft Week Menu this week, don’t feel like you need to order from every section.

I’d love to know what’s on your Soft Week Menu this week. What are you constantly filling that might actually feel better left open? And if you’re borrowing something from this week’s menu, tell me what you’re choosing in the comments.