Everyone has down days.
Maybe you’re helping a family member get through a rough patch or worried about your career or sick of living paycheck to paycheck. We all have moments when it seems life is spinning out of control. I know the feeling and it can be hard to focus on the positive.
Today, I wanted to share four natural ways I’ve used recently to get through a hard time.
1. Stick with a routine.
Nobody wants to wake up feeling the day ahead is out of control. When things go wrong, it’s natural to remove structure from our lives. We might let the dishes pile up or skip a workout or put off tackling a project. Don’t. Set a schedule for yourself. I like to create a list by day of the week to check off. Here are some things to consider including in your routine:
- Consistent time to wake up.
- Daily exercise. Start small. Try 10 minutes each day and increase from there.
- Housework & cleaning.
- Family projects.
- Errands.
- Work.
- Grocery shopping.
- Bills & budget.
- Limits on email and social media checking (try five or 10 minutes each per day).
- Consistent bedtime. Do something you enjoy like reading or watching TV to wind down your day.
2. Set realistic goals.
If there’s something you want to accomplish, hold yourself accountable. Since I don’t know how long it will take to write my next book, I set time goals for myself. This summer my goal is to work on my novel at least 30 minutes each day. I’m not sure when my novel will be done, but I know that if I put in the time, I’ll finish the book.
- Try this simple method for setting goals.
3. Redirect negative thoughts.
When you find your thoughts spiraling to the worst that can happen, stop. Recognize what you’re doing. Redirect your thoughts to something good in your life like a phone call with your sweet niece, a project you’re working on that gives you pride or a fun event coming up in the future.
4. Trust you can have fun.
If you have kids, you’ve probably planned some fun events that ended up being, well, not so fun. Someone had an attitude problem or puked or screamed or forgot the meeting spot. It happens. But it won’t happen every time.
Get out and see the world. Bring your kids. Learn new techniques to handle the attitude, puking and screaming. Trust that you can have fun and when it happens, smile.
Photo by graziedavvero
{ 4 comments }
Oh, how I needed this post. I’ve felt like I’m living on a pinball machine for the last several months. I need to get back to the basics. Thank you!
I had to make a comment about the last point – having fun with kids. We recently took a family vacation to the beach and I was so excited to be at our destination. Within minutes my son started acting sick and within less than 12 hours we were at urgent care. Only strep throat but it did interrupt dinner and a few days of sun/wave play. Once I knew he was okay, I was able to turn the inconvenience around in my head. I saw it as a way to slow down at the start of our trip instead of rushing to have fun. In the end, it was a great week, even with occasional whining kids!
P.S. I don’t see your novel status. Did I miss it? How is it going?
Hello -
I am going through a tough ordeal. I said to myself that this summer is going to be awful summer season. I have been going through this ordeal emotionally.
I want to thank you for this post. It was what I need to read and to remind myself to learn how to turn and to think positive way. Have courage to go through and enjoy my precious time with my 8 years old son this season by doing some fun activities.
Believe this or not. I am starting to think ahead of activities we can do this week.
I still have a hope that this ordeal will be short and sweet. And that it will be resolved.
In addition, I want to wish you a good luck into completing your novel. Please keep me posted of how you are doing with this novel you’re writing. Thanks.
Thanks for the great post Melissa. It’s really important to learn ways like this to support ourselves through the tough times. I thoroughly agree with you about building and continuing routines. When things feel really rough, by keeping the basics going, we stop everything else in our lives spiralling out of control, and it actually can give us moments of contentment and accomplishment, as we realise we’ve got another nourishing meal on the table in spite of everything, or gone for a 5-minute walk outside even though we didn’t think we could manage it.
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