It’s more than a full week into the new year. Suddenly new deadlines are in place and time seems to be whizzing by! How do we prioritize all the important things we are responsible for?
If it feels like everything on the “to do” list has to be done at the same time, what might we want instead? Why does this feel significant?
How might we determine the order in which to complete each task without feeling like we want to put up a sign that says “OUT OF MY MIND, BE BACK IN 5 MINUTES!”
We recently wrapped things up from the past year and organized all of our plans to effectively and efficiently kick off the new year.
How might it feel when we finally seem to have everything under control, then WHAM! The unexpected happens and we must push something new to the top of the list! Something has “upset the apple cart!”
As we all waited for this past year to come to a close to implement that fresh new start, our family got some unsettling news which overturned our ‘apple cart’ in a big way. It suddenly felt impossible to move forward into the new year as planned.
How could we move forward? We felt paralyzed with disbelief, frozen in time, and unable to focus.
Honestly, the best option, at that moment, felt like we should bury our heads in the sand and pretend the issues didn’t exist. We knew that would only make things much worse. It was time to acknowledge how healthy we are, celebrate what’s going well, and consider what’s vital to take care of now, then the rest will be addressed as necessary.
So, the action we chose at that moment was to put everything aside for one day to take some “we” and “me” time. This decision helped minimize stress symptoms enabling us to strategize with better clarity about the next steps.
So, what do we do when our “apple cart” gets turned over and all the apples fall out? How do we determine how to put all the apples back in the right order?
What is the right order? Should we put them back in the SAME order? The answer for each of us may be different.
So, what if we STOP, rethink, re-prioritize, and clear the clutter! Our brain may be saying ‘I HAVE TO get all of these things done NOW’. Do we?
We all have deadlines to meet or goals we want to reach, right? How might we feel if we took a few deep, cleansing breaths? Then we can look at each ‘apple’ as we put it back in the cart determining when we must eat that apple before it spoils.
When we look at everything on our list, why might everything seem necessary to complete by the same date? How might it feel if we leave some things aside to get done later on?
If we don’t view everything with equal importance simultaneously, it may then be possible to put our ‘apples’ back in our cart in the best order to get everything done appropriately.
How might it feel to ask for help? What tasks might we want to delegate to others? Who might benefit from this?
When might we ask others to help us? Why is that important? If we most often care for others at work and home alone without prioritizing some “ME” time, are we taking the best care of ourselves?
How do we take care of ourselves when your apple cart is turned over? How might prioritizing “ME” time feel different when this happens?
Today is “ME” Monday®! Remember this day is especially for us to plan some time, no matter how small” for ourselves. Establishing this “ME” time routine will help strengthen our resilience for the next time the apple cart tips over.
By implementing a “ME” Monday® routine today, we can have a great new start to determine the tomorrow we deserve!