Self Care

I was approached to write this PROspective piece for The Confounder a few weeks back. The idea was to do a follow-up on the Time Management piece I shared in 2019, and to highlight the importance of mental health and wellbeing as we enter yet another new normal. I knew that this post wouldn’t write itself, so I blocked some time in my calendar dedicated to getting it done.

Fast forward a few weeks…

The reminder for my writing block comes through, and it’s clear that it’s not going to happen (at least not at the time that I had planned!) Our youngest son’s school was closed, and I had a new co-worker for the day. Collin (mostly) kept it together while I held drop-in hours that morning, but by the time 11:00 rolled around, he had had enough. That time slot was no longer mine to use for writing.

Instead of writing this piece, Collin and I played with water beads for a solid 30 minutes, and then had lunch together. Letting the beads run through my hands was oddly therapeutic, and I realized that it was awfully fitting that the time I had dedicated to writing about self-care had turned into a sensory play experience with my 3-year-old.

One of the greatest lessons that I’ve learned over the last 18 months is that I have to be prepared that things will not always go as I planned them. This doesn’t mean that I’ve thrown planning out the window (and if you’re looking for tips on how to plan your weeks – check out this blog post). Rather, when there’s a change of plans, I just roll with it. Instead of wasting time being upset about the disruption, I go into solution mode, figuring out how I will adapt and change to meet whatever challenge has come my way. It’s not always easy, but I recognize that I really don’t have any other choice. In this case, I embraced the break, and realized that my writing would have to get squeezed in somewhere else.

The other strategy that has helped when things don’t go according to plan is that I let go of the guilt that I might have otherwise felt about not having done a task exactly when or how I planned. I remember to extend the same grace to myself as I do to others, and remind myself that it’s OK if I don’t quite hit the mark as I would have expected.

As you meet the new challenges ahead, I hope that you can take some time to plan structure into your weeks, but also remember to bring along a healthy dose of flexibility and grace. We are far more creative and resilient than we let ourselves believe – don’t let yourself forget this!

If you’re in need of some resources to help you de-stress, check out this Virtual Calming Room – designed for both kids and adults to allow you to take a pause and clear your mind.

Featured Image by Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist