We are in a very strange time.
I’m feeling all the feelings, and sometimes shifting moods from hour to hour, so I’m switching up my strategies on regular basis to get through each day.
Maybe you’re experiencing something similar?
For me, it’s been helpful to go super micro with my actions. The smaller the task, the better when my brain feels overloaded from a lot of emotions happening all at once.
Here are some examples:
Choosing just three things a day to focus on. Each morning, I post a list of three things on Instagram Stories that I plan to prioritize that day. I’m certainly going to get more than those three things done, but it’s been a helpful way to motivate myself to move projects forward, to be accountable to completing tasks, and to start the day with purpose.
Practicing yoga one pose at a time. I finally started a yoga practice (I’m four days in!) and I found the thing that’s helping me the most is just learning one pose a time instead of several poses in a sequence. I’m using the Foundations of Yoga videos from Yoga with Adriene (free on YouTube) to get started and they have been great.
Reading just one chapter. I’m working my way through a non-fiction book and I’m tackling just one chapter at a time since that’s about all my attention can handle right now. I’m also underlining meaningful passages and reviewing them later so that I can remember the information I’m reading better before I keep moving on through the text.
Creating new self-care rituals. Ever since I started washing my hands more, I’m using more lotion to keep the skin on my hands from getting too dry. Usually, at least once a day, I’m on a Zoom meeting where I have a more passive role. I’ve started using that time to give myself a little hand massage, rub on some cuticle oil, and re-hydrate my skin. It’s been a great daily ritual.
Celebrating the basics. Sourcing food has gone pretty well for my partner and I (we both have dietary restrictions that cause some limitations with what we eat). Even so, we often don’t get everything we’re hoping for in each of our grocery orders. This has led to some fun celebrations when we do get something that we ordered that we weren’t expecting. This week: coconut yogurt!
Keeping up with small cleaning tasks. Washing the dishes each day has helped me to feel more in control of my environment (plus, I’m using more dishes now that I’m home all the time). I like waking up to a clean kitchen in the morning and it’s nice to get it all tidied up at the end of the day. I also try to toss in a load of laundry every few days so that nothing starts feeling too overwhelming.
Cutting out sugar (again). In these past few weeks, I’ve definitely been turning to sugar as a way to find comfort and to give myself small boosts of energy throughout the day. However, sugar also has a tendency to negatively effect my anxiety and I can see the impacts almost immediately. So, I’m back to 11g of sugar (or less) each day, which is the limit that has worked for me in the past.
What strategies have been most helpful for you during this disrupted time?