Up until around three weeks ago, I felt slightly overwhelmed with how many things I had piling up on my “to do” list and how little time I had to do it all in.
It felt like I was constantly operating on a time deficit. As a result, I gave up on my task list – just gave up in general – and spent my time watching rubbish on TV, or looking for rubbish to get lost in on my phone.
Then, our household was hit with Covid. We had to isolate for ten days. Whilst it was difficult, it was also just what I needed. The days felt long and seemed to roll into one long continuum. But it was not monotonous. In fact, very far from it.
I used the time to educate myself. Before you roll your eyes, I want you to hear me out! When I say educate, I mean discover more about myself. I dialled into several coaching sessions over a seven day period; listened to a Mindset audio book; tucked into a sweet treat each night (in the form of a slice of cake or ice cream); and drank lots of water.
But most importantly, if one of the days was particularly tough, I would give myself permission to write it off and to start on a fresh page the next day. I noticed that by starting each day saying to myself that I will make this a much calmer / better / happier day (you can fill in your own blanks), that is exactly what happened.
By starting each day not giving in to the comfort of self-pity, busyness, negativity, that is exactly what you will end up with. It would be like ordering a meal you do not like on a restaurant menu and expecting something different to arrive.
Once our isolation period ended, I tried to continue some of the new practices I had developed and wanted to share some of them with you here in case you were inspired to give a couple of them a try.
- Starting the morning at least an hour earlier. This made the morning feel like much less of a rush.
- Logging onto work earlier and being firm about finishing work on time.
- Practising 20 minutes of Yoga at least four times a week before having .y morning shower.
- Spending at least 30 minutes a day on a task related to one of my passions.
- Adjusting my perception of time and thinking about how to fill the time I have rather than how much time I do not have.
- Checking in with myself to ensure I take a few moments out each day to do something I enjoy.
- Having sweet treats now and then – giving myself something to look forward to at the end of the day.
- Letting go of pressure and practising more acceptance.
- Choosing to communicate from a place of love rather than a place of resentment or anger.
- Treating myself to one rubbish TV show each night!
It may be a case that some of these tips are not suitable for you; if so, that is absolutely fine – after all, we are not clones of each other. However, I do urge you to take 10 minutes out of your day today and think about what you can try out in order to shift your perception of time so that you feel more ownership over it.
SAA Tulloch Writes 