Overwhelm?

Hello, sorry I haven’t been posting much recently, time seems to have got away from me recently, I have no idea how it has come to be 2021! The last year seems to have been very elastic – it has seemed so long and drawn out yet also gone by in a flash.

This year has already seen so many challenges, and we are only just over a week in, how are you coping with it? I think when the first lockdown started, we all thought it would only be a few weeks, none of us could have for-seen how we would still be living under restrictions almost a year on. With all this going on, rubbish weather, no Christmas to look forward to and blue Monday on the horizon (Monday the 18th), it can all seem a bit overwhelming right now, so how do you cope with it all? Are you a make plans type of person or a one foot in front of the other person, or a different type all together? I used to be (and still am at heart) a make plans person but right now I am focusing on one step at a time, focusing on each day, what I need to do AND what I want out of that day. For me I have found looking too far ahead right now overwhelming, with restrictions and plans changing all the time I am focusing on each day (and to some extent week) as it comes, and I have made a resolve to focus on all the things I can do rather than the things I can’t do. Now in the spirit of being open and honest I should let you know that I am not 100% successful at managing this all the time, but that’s ok, for me it’s the intention that counts, I think its unrealistic to be 100% all of the time.

To help myself I have also made a list of all the things I know have helped me in the past, things I enjoy doing, things that relax me or bring me joy, from the big to the small, and set the intention to do at least one of these a day, often it is just the little things I have been doing, these in themselves have helped even just a little so I challenge you to make your own list and, instead of having a mammoth to do list each day of big and boring tasks, why not task yourself with doing something off your list?

To get you started here are some of the things I have on mine;

- Read a chapter (or more) of a novel

- Put on a face mask and relax

- Go for a walk with the dog

- Take the kids to the park

- Walk to the canal

- Facetime the family

- Facetime friends

- Do a workout

- Do some yoga

- Do some crochet/felting

- Do a Headspace meditation