Hi friends,
Did you know that May is Mental Health Awareness Month? This is one more reason to love this month. As I thought about my weekly message to you, I remembered a great question that stuck with me from my group coaching sessions. I receive MANY of those every course, so I returned to my notes and decided to share this question and my answer because you, too, may be wondering the same thing.
Question: How to manage self-care and well-being routines, such as reading, going to the gym, and keeping a journal, when you find yourself overwhelmed with your life's demands?
Answer: When you are living in a season that is too demanding such as tight work deadlines, moving to a new home, taking care of a sick family member, or lots of traveling, you might feel resistant to engage in any positive habits. It's almost as if you're in survival mode. In such situations, I have found that returning to the basics is key.
Protect your body:
- Sleep Enough to improve emotional resilience and patience.
- Eat healthily, with minimum sugar, to avoid energy and mood crashes.
- Stay hydrated.
- Take healthy snacks and water with you for the road.
- Less caffeine to avoid overstimulating your nervous system.
Protect your time and attention:
- Only do the necessary tasks, and let go of other commitments you used to say yes to without question.
- Say no to social obligations that usually zap out your energy, especially if you go to please others.
- Spend less time on the phone to avoid comparison with people who seem to be having more fun than you.
- Silence Whatsapp groups or leave them.
Ask for help:
- Reach out to a friend and talk about what you're going through in a phone call on the way home.
- If you can't reach a close friend, use voice notes. They can provide a much-needed outlet for venting and receiving empathy.
But then again, in these challenging seasons, we need to consider this: What if quitting our good habits is why we feel we are in a rut?
Tough times mean we need to apply what we learned about habits: keep doing them, but scale them down to the smallest version; the one-minute push-ups, the one-minute mindful breathing, the one-minute jumping jacking, the one-sentence journal. You will feel great that you are still progressing to your best self.
Finally, remember it is just a season you are going through; it's ok to change some habits until your crisis ends. However, pay attention if this new season has become your new normal. If yes, go back to the above instructions.
P.S. Preparing something exciting, and I can't wait to share it with you, any guesses?
