So many things have been happening for me personally and around the world. Like many people, I am looking around realizing that many months have given way to chaos and just making it through the day.
When we spend so much time handling the chaos and emergencies in life we lose sight of the work we've put in. This is why there are so many days we end the day knowing we did a lot but not remembering what we did. Many times emergencies and chaos are not things we desire nor intended for ourselves. It means that we've made decisions to forgo what we had planned to handle something else.
This does not take away from the work we accomplished but, it may mean we lose sight or forget what it was we even did. Emergency thinking is not mindfulness. It is a time of shutting down all but our auto responses to handle what is occurring. It is during times of mindfully choosing what and how we handle the day that we have a better chance of fully sensing our day and committing the full experience to memory.
Sure we remember the chaos, the emergencies. But, we remember them in fits and starts in key moments and on some level with an air of detachment.
So to combat the negative self talk that honestly for me follow a day where I feel nothing was done. Rather than review my list of tasks that weren't accomplished, I pull out a pen and paper (or a metaphorical pen and paper) and begin listing everything not on my list that I did.
For example, there was a fire alarm in the apartment building where I live and I safely navigated that moment and passed on information to a woman who asked me a question. I made myself some oatmeal because I knew it would be a busy day. I spilled sugar and so I swept up the sugar amd continued to sweep the whole kitchen.
Doing this will bring me a sense of accomplishment and pride. The next day, I'll see what still needs to be done and carried over and consider if the unexpected happens will my list be too long and what can I move. Considering this helpse reduce the feeling of overwhelm because some things on my list aren't really need to dos they are sometimes things I throw on my list thinking it would be awesome to get done but they aren't as relevant.
Taking time to use an assessment of what truly should be done is also a great help. There are many famous methods for doing that exercise so I won't pick one here. It's just a great idea to do this especially if you find yourself getting lost in other people's goals or even forgetting what path your on.
Welp, we are about to head out pf August and into September. This post was not about fixing anything. This post was letting you know if you are looking at the calendar, lamenting your lost months you are not alone.
Have a most wonderful day, week, month and rest of your year. We will figure this out and look back and find how we've grown and learned from this time.