“If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.”
– Greg McKeown
Rewind to a month ago, and things were NOT looking good. In fact, it was pretty bad.
With the advent of COVID-19 spreading across the country, while many people were losing their jobs, taking on the responsibility of assisting their kids through remote learning, spending time working on their yards, and binge shopping on Lysol and toilet paper, I was working….nonstop.
Let me say that again…..I was working NONSTOP.
I don’t use this word liberally, but I was literally working from the moment I woke up until the moment I went to bed (which was usually around 1:00-2:00am)….for the entire month of April. A couple of those nights were even all-nighters, which I hadn’t done in over 10 years. My routine was completely out the window, and it was just ALL WORK.
To escape the cacophony of noise that my kids make (who were now home 24 hours/day), I worked from my bedroom, on my bed. This meant that I was in my bed for an average of 23 hours/day, for a month straight. Talk about being sedentary – NOT HEALTHY AT ALL!
What Was Life Like in April?
- My eyes were staring at screens the entire day, causing a lot of eyestrain and headaches.
- I was eating whatever was quick to make, which usually was carb-loaded snacks.
- I wasn’t drinking enough water.
- I was not making dinner; the kids were left to fend for themselves (which usually meant cereal to them).
- I was not involved in my kid’s school at all. I mean ZERO. I literally told them,
“I don’t have the bandwidth to be checking on your schoolwork right now. I need you to be responsible for getting things done, without me needing to double check because I can’t so that right now. You are welcome to come to me with questions, and I would love to help, but I can’t be making sure you are doing your work. Just get it done, okay?” - I was not exercising or taking care of myself in sense of the words.
- I wasn’t even moving my body AT ALL. Just lying/sitting in bed (either sleeping or working)
- I was not showering.
- I was not changing out of my pajamas.
- I was not getting outside at all.
- I was absent from social media.
- I was breaking down and crying on a regular basis, feeling completely overwhelmed.
- I was living my life responding to, “Hey Jenni, can you do this for me right now?” from multiple different entities, and I just couldn’t keep up.
- I was trying hard not to complain, so I was just drawing into myself and not sharing what was going on, which was making it even harder on myself.
- I was living off someone else’s priorities all day long, and I wasn’t working on anything that I really wanted to be working on to further my own life.
- Everyone else was picking up new hobbies, and all I wanted to do was ANYTHING for myself (like take a shower), but just didn’t have the time.
Now to put this into perspective remember I also have multiple sclerosis, which means that not taking care of myself in this manner and putting this much mental stress on myself was not doing well for my body. I was in TONS of pain but couldn’t stop working because things just needed to get done.
My family and friends were telling me to take time to take care of myself, but if I did I wouldn’t meet deadlines, and that made me feel worse.
As May was approaching, I was finally realizing that this mode of life was not sustainable (duh, wake up Jenni!). I knew something needed to change……and quickly. I couldn’t have May look like what April did. I simply wouldn’t survive.
Finally, I “woke up” and I remembered who I was, and this was NOT how I wanted to live life. So, I decided to reclaim control over my life again. It sounds easy, but it wasn’t. I was feeling so lost, and didn’t know how to simplify.
What Did I Change in May?
- I went from (exacerbatingly) asking myself, “How am I going to make all this work?” to a resounding, “I CAN’T make this all work. It’s unreasonable for one person to be doing all this; it needs to change.”
- I met with a good friend for a life coaching session (yes, even coaches need coaches), in which we evaluated what I could release from my life right now.
- I gave up one project I was working on.
- I asked someone else for help on another project to make it more streamlined for me.
- I utilized my planner again (actually setting priorities for the day, instead of just working from sun-up to sun-down).
- I committed to my daily devotional time in the mornings again.
- I began eating breakfast again.
- I began drinking more water.
- I started eating vegetables again.
- I assigned my younger kids one dinner each to make for the week, and my older son three meals to make (to take dinner-stress off of me).
- I freed up time to start checking on the kids’ schoolwork and asked them what they were doing each day.
- I made it a point to go outside every day and walk for at least 2+ miles.
- I limited myself to three priorities/goals per day, and no more than that.
- I bought blue light glasses for when I am on screens.
- I started setting an hour aside each night, just for me! (Hello hot tub!)
Life it still not perfect, it never is. But I am taking better care of myself and choosing my own priorities again instead of someone else choosing for me. I am back on with my nutrition and have a workout plan to help keep me active. I am learning to say “no” more and set better boundaries. I am remembering who I am, and how I want to do life, where I live a life by design, and not just by default.
Are YOU overwhelmed and out of routine from COVID-19?
You can reclaim your life too!
Start small.
One goal at a time (my first was getting outside to walk every day).
Take it slow, and don’t try to change everything at once.
If I can do this, you can too!
#morewithless #claimyourlife #makeyourownpriorites
