Yesterday I begun my summer holiday – 2 weeks of pure bliss and relaxation! My husband hasn’t got any time off this summer so I’m enjoying the weather at home and getting lots of great things done. Including just sitting in the sun, reading a book 🙂
The past week was tough, getting everything finished before going on holiday. But I survived and it made me think of the things and rituals I try to hang on to when times get rough, in order for me to keep away from stress and stay happy and balanced.
1. Take the time to eat breakfast
I know that this might sound too basic and you’ll think “oh of course I should eat breakfast, I know that”. But I don’t mean just eating breakfast. I mean to sit down with my food and concentrate on it, even if just for 5-10 minutes, before heading out for work. It just gives a much better start to the day and it’s really about prioritizing this in the morning.
Today’s breakfast of two scrambled eggs and a cherry/chocolate smoothie
Tip! When making scrambled eggs don’t bother to mix them in a bowl. Just crack two eggs onto the hot pan and mix away – minimizing both the time and dishes.
2. Make your bed in the morning
When I get up in the morning I throw the covers to one side of the bed and open the window wide for the bed to cool off while I’m showering and having breakfast. Then just before heading out the door I make the bed. It gives me a sense of calm and makes sure that when I get home, I come home to an apartment that isn’t all messy and stressful. I also make sure that the pillows in the sofa sit properly and that there aren’t any glasses or tea cups lying around the house. Takes 2 minutes but literally makes me calm.
3. Keep up the exercise
This is definitely the hardest thing to do. Exercise was an important part of my recovery during stress, and now I’ve found that it’s actually one of the best ways for me to ward off stress. I’ve also realized that it’s a matter of me taking myself serious enough to actually get out there on the road.
If I have some rough days at work and a lot going on in my social life and I don’t exercise, I can be 100% sure that I will fight with my husband, nag over the dishes or something equally stupid and I’ll really not be very pleasant to be around. But if I get out there, if only for a 3 km run, then I’m a completely different person. I cope with the high pace much better and I have tons of energy. I sleep better at night, I get my sex-drive back and I laugh more.
I understand that it can be hard to convince yourself that exercising should be prioritized if you come home at 6 o’clock, have to cook dinner and talk to your husband, before heading out for a night out with the girls. But it’s worth it.
And I just have to remember what it was like sitting alone on the road crying because I couldn’t handle biking all the way to work and face another day, crying in the lab day after day, not being able to love my husband properly, not remembering anything that happened to me for months of my life… Then I find the strength to lace up my shoes and hit the pavement.
And new running gear also kicks up the motivation a notch 🙂
Nike is my favourite brand for running gear
4. Have no more than two social arrangements per week
Once in a while I get cocky and think that I can handle seeing all of my girlfriends in one single week. And then I make all of these arrangements jumping from one thing to the next, and when the weekend finally comes I feel like I haven’t seen my husband for ages. And you can be completely sure that I will be anti-grounded, anti-calm and have anti-energy = a complete bitch to be around. Thank God that I have a forgiving husband who knows to ask me to shut up and go for a run 🙂
Ideally I only have social arrangements a maximum of two nights during the week and then perhaps coffee with a friend sometime during the weekend. Or dinner at my parent’s house with my siblings which really doesn’t feel like I’m “out doing something”. Perhaps you can handle more, but remember that you don’t always have to say yes when your friends want to see you. You can just say “I’d really like to but I’m a bit hung up this week already – could we do it next week?” or simply “I’d like to but I need to prioritize having some time by myself this week”.
5. Schedule things!
“Ok so who wants to schedule their time off?” you might think. Well sometimes I do! I know that I won’t feel good if the laundry basket is flowing over, the floors look a complete mess and I haven’t had time to hand in those library books that are almost overdue. But I won’t feel good either if I skip my runs, my time in the yard taking photographs or my down-time on the sofa with a book. So I schedule and make lists.
Most of us are really good at making lists of all of the “boring” things we have to do, such as laundry and cleaning. But what about making a list with EVERYTHING on it? My list for the next couple of days goes a little something like this:
- Do the laundry
- Go running (yay 🙂 )
- But fabric for new pillows + sew
- Clean the apartment
- Bake bread for the freezer
- Make apricot and raspberry jam
- Watch “Extreme makeover: Weightloss edition” (My non-guilty pleasure!!)
- Clean out the old magazines in the living room
- Update our monthly budget and send to our bank
A great mixture of fun and not-so-fun things and scheduling the fun stuff kinda makes me feel like I have to do it. Which helps me prioritize myself. Win-win!
Scheduling is also part of my Saturday routine. On Saturdays I make a meal-plan for the following week and go grocery shopping, combining this with getting an overview of what my husband and I will be doing during the coming week. That way I always know if we’ll be home for dinner (which we try to be every day!), if anyone will be joining us and when we’ll have time to be just the two of us. It gives me more energy throughout the week when everything is planned – and it makes room for more spontaneous things when the basics are in place.
Do you have any rituals/things you stick to in order to get through when times are rough?
this is a great post. You’re right about the fact that most of us only write lists and schedule boring duties! I will take your advice to heart and start scheduling my pleasures 🙂
Oh I’m so glad to hear that 🙂 Yesterday I scheduled baking and making jam = the perfect day.
[…] Comments « 5 rituals that gets me through when times are rough […]