Virginia WaltonAre you feeling like you just got into the groove of everything being virtual and limited events and now- BAM – it’s a flood gate of events on your calendar? Graduations went from limited to open to all the night before. Stressing out as you pivot back? Guess what, you are not alone!
We literally ripped the masks off and filled our calendars. If you are one of the few people left that knows how to drive a manual transmission do you feel like you just went from first to 6th in 60 seconds? It’s exciting but stressful. The adrenaline is great but the stress of are you hitting the right gears as you work through them when you have been hovering in 3rd for the last hour is tiring. You break a sweat.
That’s how our calendars are feeling. We were planning things without travel time, not a lot of events, and now it’s full schedules and racing from place to place. What happened to the hikes, board games and walks? The change hit us as hard as the pause button did last March.
Now what? As we start to get back to social gatherings, going to the office, kids’ activities being in person, let’s pause to remember some of what we learned.
- You do not have to say yes to every invitation. Pause before accepting, but instead of thinking is this a safe option think, is this the best use of my time, is this getting me to closer to my personal and/or professional goals? Is this going to add stress to my calendar that I do not need?
- Family meals are good for us- Studies show that children who eat with families do better in school, have lower rates of depression, anxiety and eating disorders as well as better diets and cardiovascular health. Family meals can help lower obesity rates.
- If you don’t have children at home adults who eat together tend to eat more fruits and vegetables and less fast food.
- More sleep? If you started getting more rest – maybe you did not have a morning commute or weren’t dropping off the kids, how will you continue to maintain that level of sleep and rest. Your body needs sleep. Remember our fuel in the car analogy- You would not leave for work on an empty tank of gas, why would you leave the house on an empty tank of energy. Sleep, quality food and exercise- sources of energy! Make time for them.
Consider treating time on your calendar like you do money. Many of us got a little thriftier with the economic uncertainty or having lost income or jobs. Apply that mindset here. Is it worth spending your time on this? If it’s someone or something that drains you- treat it like you would a situation that put you at risk of getting sick, because in fact it is! Things that wear you down are increasing your risk of getting sick.
I admit, it’s easy to get sucked into the excitement of having plans. Our calendars the last two weekends were full! After two weekends with ‘x`girls’ nights’, Father’s Day dinners, community events (Clam Bakes, Car Shows) then add on that trying to build a new business, run field hockey registration and take on more community responsibilities, I caught myself slipping into old patterns.
If you relate to this, hopefully you too realized it, and made a conscious choice to say, WAIT! I’m not going back to that chaos. I need to make sure I’m not running myself down because not only will it have a negative impact on me, it will keep me from being able to offer my best to my family, my business, my friends and community. Slower is better in the long run.
Remember the expression of carpenters “Measure twice, cut once”. Measure your availability twice before you commit your time, otherwise you’re cutting yourself short of your best.
If you or someone you know are interested in learning more about how we can work together to keep your productive and healthy, please reach out. Drop me a message or comment on Facebook or LinkedIn. Be well!