Need To Restart? Try These 3 Things
Your weekly reset, in 5 min or less
The reason these weekly resets will likely head out to your inbox at anytime of the week is for a few specific reasons:
Do moms actually have weekends? For me, it seems the Friday night is what Sunday nights used to be before children: evenings where I am anxiously gearing up for the onset of a couple days without solid routine structured with childcare or work schedules. In conclusion: what is the beginning of our week?
I am human. At least, that’s what they tell me and humans are mistake-makers.
Ideally, these weekly resets will provide a dose of encouragement but I’m pretty sure that is always needed.
I’m not going to waste much time on an intro so here are 3 ways you can “reset” your life today.
Utilize Calendars
I highly doubt you aren’t using some sort of calendar, whether it’s digital or paper. If you aren’t then I hope you are doing ok. Personally, I use a mixture of both and often have multiple places that remind me of the same thing.
Google calendar (phone and email show me this)
Business schedule (with big personal things listed as well as appointments)
Calendly (I should probably use this more than I do for meetings)
Paper planner tools
Unless you own a detailing business, you probably could care less about the fantastic program I use (Urable) so I’ll go ahead and highlight the paper tools I love.
For the past couple years I have supported this women-owned small business. I have found that the 3 month, undated planner is the best for my multi-faceted life. Link here. (Side note: their shipping time is phenomenal!)
The daily format is especially one of my biggest tools as a mother, business owner, and busy-bee. In addition to the time listing column, it includes these grey areas called “Freedom Boxes.”
Some ways I’ve used these areas include:
Don’t Forget lists
Looking Ahead dates
Grocery Shopping
To Order lists
Social Media Posts
Honestly the list is endless so we will stop here. The ability to have this flexible format is an essential for my life!
I’m currently an affiliate partner with them and you can use the code CHANEL10 for ten percent off or download their format to try free! Their downloads page is full of amazing things to use.
Find Your Rhythm
If there is one major lesson parenthood has taught me, it would be the acknowledgement that everything is changing and we are constantly adapting.
Take a few moments today and write or ponder the following questions:
What are the major areas of my life that require my energy? (ex: work, relationship, parenthood, hobby, community, etc.)
Examine one area at a time. Write 1) when you spend time in this category, 2) what that time looks like currently, and 3) how you’d like to improve how that time is spent.
For example: For me, self care time is made up of breathing practices (5 min), listening to calming podcasts (30 min), reading a book (anywhere from 5-30 min), and communicating with my counselor/ doing therapy homework (10 min).
Right now I try to fill these things in last minute when I’ve already hit a wall mentally. Going forward I am trying to listen to the podcasts during my commute to work, reading a book before bed, and participating in counseling in my car in my business parking lot before I get carried away with to do lists.
Taking a step back and examining how you’re operating can give you a better idea of how your time is spent on things you want to prioritize. This has been a beneficial practice for me whenever I feel like there are too many balls in the court. A note: only focus on one area at a time. Otherwise you may feel more anxious.
The goal is not control; the goal is clarity. When we focus on controlling everything, especially in parenthood, it often leads to overwhelm when things “fall apart.”
Value-Based Budgeting
Let’s talk about money (briefly). By no means am I a financial advisor but today I want you to consider how and why you are budgeting.
Obviously the beginning foundations of a budget should focus on the big necessity bills being paid and not spending over what you earn. We should consider how much we are saving for taxes and trips and anything else that might be brewing up in your life. Doing a monthly-audit is self-care, friends! The more you know, the better you’ll feel about it.
I encourage you to look back at your rhythms list from above and ask “What does my spending say about my values?”
To be brutally honest, my personal budget for the majority of my twenties portrayed a woman who valued coffee. (The love has not faded but there are more drip coffees now than lattes).
Headed into my 30th year I decided that I wanted to keep some money aside every month to support our community’s first Friday art walk events (a standard monthly date night we take as a family downtown).
I also set a personal budget of $15 a month to support creators. In the long run, I want to support artists and writers like I hope to be supported one day full-time. We put so much work and time into our creations and I love being able to do my small part to impact someone else.
Did you find this helpful? Let me know!