Hey friends. How are you? Where are you on the wave as you read this?
You know the wave I'm talking about. It goes from, "Life feels amazing and even though this is crazy I know we will come out stronger for it" to "The fabric of our society is going to tear in two and all hope for humanity is lost. And it goes from one to the other in, like, 10 minutes lately.
My years in 12 step programs have taught me so many important skills, and one is to control what I can and leave the rest. (Ever hear of the serenity prayer? That's kind of our thing in AA.) So we ask for the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can and the wisdom to know the difference."
Today I read this amazing article about a man who has been isolated on a mountain top (by choice) for 50 years, and he shares some of the tools he has developed for coping with social distancing challenges. His third tip resonated so much with me, as I just did a little Instagram live video on it yesterday. The title is, "Celebrate the stuff that matters, rather than the stuff you're supposed to celebrate."
He explains how he doesn't care much about holidays, but he intentionally plans enjoyable things to do either to celebrate something he accomplished or to recover from something that was hard for him. Yesterday I talked about buying an adorable polka dot poncho and rain boots so that the next time it rained I was excited to use them instead of being depressed we couldn't spend the day outside. It totally worked! I dealt fine with the rainy day and actually enjoyed it!
So during your day or week there are bound to be things you're dreading. Write them out. Look at them and see what you can do ahead of time to make them feel a little less hard. Can you arrange something extra special to happen right after? It doesn't need to be big, it's all about the action of planning. You'll be amazed how quickly the excited anticipation lightens the heaviness of the dreaded thing.
For me, every time I get my orders for the day packed and shipped, I get to make a fun face mask for someone I love. I have my sewing machine set up, ironing board ready and all my fabric lined up. Now when I think of shipping, my mind attaches somethings super fun to it and it doesn't feel daunting or hard.
What are some things you can do to lighten your day? Please share, I know I can use all the inspiration you've got! And please don't forget, you are not alone. We're all in this together and you're doing an amazing job!
xoxo,
Mel