This practice is part of the Managing Stress series and is addressed in Part 1. For more information, make sure to check out that article.
As I write this, we are right smack in the midst of the COVID19 pandemic. At this point, I have been social distancing for about two months. I have witnessed society turn upside down as businesses are forced to shut down (or significantly change) operations and individuals are told to stay home. Meanwhile, millions of individuals are directly impacted by the virus as it threatens their own health.
The bottom line – this is a world that has come face-to-face with one significant load of stress.
And interestingly, the response to this stress that I have witnessed has been across the board.
For some, this has been a time of total shutdown as they are paralyzed with fear or sunk down with defeat. For this group, this pandemic has been received as an open invitation to buy up all the wine, put on a hell of a lot of Netflix, and bunker down while they wait for some sense of normalcy to return.
For others, this has been an opportunity to show up in life in a new way: to reach out to others – to forge new bonds; to lend a hand assisting the problem in any way they know how; to create; to teach; to build; to grow.
Chances are, you have witnessed this mix yourself. The question we will begin with is, Which group do you find yourself in?
Now, chances are that you aren’t completely in one group or the other but are instead somewhere along a spectrum bridging the two. Maybe you find yourself being productive on a project you’ve been putting off, and yet also have your Netflix and wine routine down (it begins again at 4 today!). Or, maybe you started a new workout routine, but fell off the wagon last week and are still promising to begin again tomorrow.
Whatever spot you find yourself in today, here’s what I want you to do. After reading through the rest of this, grab a pen and piece of paper, and answer the following questions about the activities you have been engaging in during your time at home:
- what routines have you found yourself in that may be negatively impacting your health or well-being?
- what activities do you find yourself wishing you would change (and yet can’t find the will to do so)?
- what activities seem to be taking away from your life – your health, your joy, your well-being?
- what could be added in to benefit your life?
- what tasks are you proud of?
- what activities bringing you joy?
Here’s the whole point here: what we don’t want to do is be overly critical of ourselves. This isn’t the time to put even more pressure on ourselves because we aren’t living up to who we think we should be.
What we also don’t want to do is feel the need to be over-productive or busy all of the time. Life is about balance – there is time to do the hard work, but it is also meant to be enjoyed. So, if you can see this time as an opportunity to bring activities into your life that bring you joy, then absolutely embrace these moments.
What we do want to do is recognize how we have been responding during this stressful time.
We want to make sure we have full awareness of the activities we are engaging in, along with how these activities make us feel.
So, as you answer these questions, don’t just rush through it. Take your time writing your answers, pausing to tune into what responses they create in you.
Once this is complete, we can reflect on our answers and the feelings that arose in response, and then:
- accept that there may be activities we have allowed into our lives that are tearing us down instead of lifting us up
- embrace activities that we have chosen that already lift us up
Let’s get to work lifting ourselves up even higher.
I don’t need you to do anything with this list right now other than accept it as is. Recognize this snapshot of your life for what it is – an assortment of successes (yes! I love that I get to do this activity that brings me so much joy) and some potential room for improvement (I feel guilty when I eat this not-so-food because it does not make me feel good).
Hold onto it, keep it in mind, and see where this simple act takes you. Then, we’ll circle back around to it later on in the series for some deeper thought.