Sunday Mornings - Getting ready for the Week
Hey! Hope you are having a calm weekend
Preparing for the week to come... Can't believe I am spontaneously in DC this weekend... It is so important to take the time for yourself and do what you love when you feel the need to rebalance, which for me is traveling, and spending quality time with family... I am already counting down the days for me to visit my family in Chile, because I miss them deeply.
I realize that one of my faults is spreading myself too thin with my priorities (maybe this relates to you)..., and for the past year it has been a journey learning how to manage 3-5 commitments at once. So I have gathered that even when these commitments may feel strenuous on my life, how can I take a step back a realize that it happens to all of us, and it does not define our being.
There was an article that I found online written by Arina
1. Let go of a few activities
Yes, it’s that easy! Take a look at your to-do list and ask yourself, “If I don’t do it today, will it matter a month from now?”
Not every urgent task is important. Just like not every important, high pay-off task is urgent. The best way to keep yourself from getting overwhelmed and to manage your time is to know the difference between the two and learn to simplify your life by getting your to-do list down to three big tasks.
2. Take deep breaths to calm down
This advice sounds so simple it’s often overlooked. But it works better (and faster) than any other relaxation technique out there. There is a direct connection between our emotional state and breathing. An anxious, frustrated or overwhelmed person breathes as if they have just finished running a marathon. A calm person breathes differently. Their breathing is deep, slow and steady. So the best way to bring your heart rate down and to regain your cool is to change your breathing.
Try this now: take a slow, deep breath in, filling your lungs with air and expanding your diaphragm. Hold your breath for four counts and then slowly release the air through your mouth. Repeat four times and notice frustration and the feeling of being overwhelmed dissolve with each long exhale.
3. Make “Just one thing” your mantra
When we feel overwhelmed by the amount of tasks on our to-do list, it’s easy to enter the ‘deer in the headlights’ state. You see deadlines approaching directly towards you, and you know that something has to be done about them, but you just don’t know where to start.
The best way to get your mind out of an ‘inactivity trance’ is to create momentum. This is what makes the “Just one thing” mantra so powerful. It helps to change our expectation that everything has to be completed right now, “or else.”
Next time you feel overwhelmed make grabbing a cup of coffee your “Just one thing.” You can do it, right? Then come back, pick one of the smallest tasks on your to-do list and tell yourself you’ll do just that one task. This is your next “Just one thing” that you will concentrate on until it’s complete. After that you can move on to the next task and so on.
Please note: It’s not “One thing at a time.” Saying this implies that there is a huge line of other tasks waiting to get done and that’s not the message you want to keep repeating to yourself.
4. Reduce the multi-tasking and multi-thinking
It’s been proven that multi-tasking is very inefficient, to the point of dumbing us down (more than smoking marijuana does). The same is true for multi-thinking, when your mind frantically jumps from one thought to another, trying to focus on and analyze several things all at once. Fortunately, there is help. A few minutes of meditation or brainwave music is all it takes to start feeling more relaxed, more creative and less overwhelmed.
5. Get moving
Any exercise you engage in – be it walking or dancing to your favorite beat – helps to pump some ‘feel-good’ hormones, called endorphins, through your body and to clear your mind. Staying active also increases your productivity, enhances your ability to cope with stress and helps you to vent nervous tension, boosting your mood and changing the thoughts that induce the sense of being overwhelmed.
The best part is you don’t have to spend hours in the gym to get the mind-soothing benefits of exercise. Even as little as 15 minutes of dancing or jogging can go a long way towards making you feel better and staying calmer.
6. Change your surroundings
We all need and deserve to take vacations from work woes and family responsibilities. Unfortunately, spending two weeks lazing on a beach, toes in the sand and a Mojito in hand, is not always an option. However, this doesn’t mean that we can’t take short ‘vacations’ from work stress and the technology buzz.
Go outside for a few minutes and enjoy the sunshine. Stop at a park instead of driving straight home from work. Sometimes changing your surroundings and ‘spicing up your routine’ is all it takes to change your perspective on things and find creative solutions to seemingly complex and overwhelming problems.
7. Get some pet therapy
Use pet therapy to calm down.
Studies have shown what most of us already guessed – our pets can be a great help during stressful moments. Simple actions such as petting or playing with your dog or cat can lower high blood pressure, improve your immune system and boost your mood. Besides, pets can make the best conversation partners to share your frustrations with. They listen, they love you unconditionally and they never talk back or say, “I told you so.”
Extra tip: Don’t wait for stress to hit you to start practicing these quick ways to calm down when you are overwhelmed. The best way to enjoy a worry-free life is not to push yourself to the limit of being overwhelmed and frustrated.
