Day at a time, Self-care, 30/4/20

A Day at a Time – A Daily Blog of Life in Lockdown

This morning I woke up with what would normally be time to enjoy my coffee peacefully for an hour, practice Qi Gong for another hour and write my blog before a 10.00 am Zoom meeting. However, it all went awry as I allowed myself to drift into other things and then be distracted by a conversation with a builder. So, now it is late afternoon and I am facilitating a group shortly and I would’ve preferred my blog to have been written. I realise how precious this morning routine is to me and how I feel for the rest of the day.

When I first wrote a blog for Yes to Life back in 2013 and I did a little research on writing blogs and came across somebody (in California, probably) who wrote about starting his day at 4.00 am so that he could enjoy some quiet time, his exercise and his writing all before the children woke up. It’s been knocking around in my head ever since. I’ve always seen the sense of it and regularly achieve it for several days at a time but never consistently; sleep being valued above all. As my own boss, I allowed myself to be a victim to my fairly structureless life; the procrastinator in me took advantage big time and quite frankly, I was bored. Whereas now I am enjoying this morning routine so much that the challenge is how to protect it. If a work meeting or medical appointment disrupts my routine what do I do – getting up extra early is the obvious answer for me, knowing that the discipline to carve out that time at another point of the day is a challenge.

What is the value of structure after all than to do what is important to us? It is worth asking the question in this lock down – what helps and supports my well-being and how do I build it in to my day? We have the power to choose, to be intentional about what we want. And it makes sense to do what we love first and isn’t that the most potent message we can send to ourselves of self-care, self-value?

Be kinder to yourself. And then let your kindness flood the world.”
Pema Chödrön

Hint: Do what you enjoy and makes you feel good. Build it into your day and prioritise it! Notice the positive affect that comes from this in your life.