Do you wake up feeling overwhelmed? Your days and weeks fly by and you wish you could pause EVERYTHING and take 3 or 4 days off to re-set and put your life in order!
Sadly, if we do wait for time that we can ‘reset’, we will continue to face the same issues again in a few months. In reality, this feeling of panic and overwhelmed should be a clue for you. It is the result of many tiny decisions you made or didn’t make to put you in this ‘fighting fire with fire’ situation. The solution is to manage our time and day as we go.
For a start, let’s have more control over the first and last hour of your day. This can really help you feel more peace and clarity in your life. Here are some suggestions of what I’ve done to set a better tone for my days.
- Own the first hour of your morning.
- Do what fills your soul first. Try prayer and meditation for 10-15 minutes. Greet the sun. Soak in the light. Is it doing morning yoga or exercising for half an hour? Is it to sit still and plan your day out? Write 3 things you are grateful for. Write 3 things you want to accomplish today to feel a sense of achievement. Eat something healthy and just be still.
- Do not check your phone, emails, facebook, instagram or social media first thing. It will take your attention and energy before you’ve filled your soul with positive goodness.
- Own the last hour of your day.
- Fill your mind and heart with happy positive thoughts by meditating, praying, reading uplifting materials, write a paragraph in your journal etc. This way your mind will dream happy dreams and your body rest well.
- Decide before you go to bed what you will do first thing in the morning that will make you feel happy and accomplished. Consciously choosing as much as you can before you get into the situation will help you use less energy deciding in the moment. Shawn Achor calls this, “Activation Energy.” You can go as far as picking out clothes for the next day and planning other activities. I have other suggestions below #3.
- Praise and love yourself. I tell myself, I’ve done well today. I rub lot’s of essential oils onto my body to help me sleep well and assist in repair and renewal. Here are some things I do depending on my mood: Juniper Berry essential oil on my tummy to help me sleep through the night and dream well. Vetiver essential oil on my big toes to help me come back to earth if I’ve been on a spiritual high. AromaTouch essential oil on my neck and shoulders to help me release any built up tension throughout the day. Here are some more things I do for sleep.
- Do not watch the news before bed. They are mostly bad worrisome news. Do not check your phone, emails, facebook, instagram or social media.
- Once a week have a REST & Renew day.
- Honor your self. Even if you feel like you are not tired, rest anyways. I like to take Sunday as my rest and renewal day. It is my Sabbath so I go to church and spend time at home with my family. I have rules for myself such as what I will do and what I won’t do on Sunday. I won’t go shopping, eat out, or go out to work. (Exception is when I’m traveling) I like to take a short nap and rest up.
- Strengthen relationships with love. I give my children massages. We talk and eat something good together. We play games together and shut the ‘world’ out for a day. In the Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor this is called, “Social Investment.” Stephen Covey talks about aligning actions to goals. If you want strong loving family relationships then let your actions align with that goal too.
- Rededicate and clarify my goals. We all want to feel progression in someways. If we can’t measure achievements, we can’t gauge if we are heading in the right direction. I write my journal and review my week and month. Then I can see where I can change and improve. I rededicate myself and review my goals. There are things that sneak into your life that distracts you from what you want to become. This is a time to choose to eliminate it from your life. Maybe you’ve over committed yourself to good things. This is the time to ask yourself what is BEST from all those good things. It could be saying, ‘no’ to people and some activities. Many people haven’t ‘designed’ the life they want. They are so broad in their desires to ‘help people’ or ‘be happy.’ Ask yourself what does happy look and feel like? Ask yourself what do I specifically want to do to ‘help people.’ When I’ve done this, I find that I am clearer each month and year. There are plenty of roles we can play but what are the God-given gifts and talents you have to use to bless the world? Be happy with that and do that thing really well. I discovered patterns of joy when I nurture and connect with people. I also discovered a love for learning and teaching. Together with my other skills, I discovered I want to serve humanity in this particular way and I will try and to it better and better.
- Plan to batch (time management). Depending on your living/family situation you can save a lot of time by preplanning as much as you can. We plan 3 weeks of meals ahead of time. You can pick when you will do laundry and chores. You can even plan times you will check emails and facebook etc.
Live intentionally my friends. Feeling overwhelmed is a clue for you to change something. Don’t wish passively for things to get better. Time management is really learning to manage yourself. You have the power to change things for life!
My friends, this is a liberating wonderful skill to have. I hope it will bring you the peace and happiness you are looking for.
Suggested Resources:
- 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
- Stephen Covey’s Time Management. Download pdf here.
- The Slight Edge by Jeff Olsen
