Wednesday 2 July 2014

Small Changes for Smoother Sailing

I’m not entirely sure whether it’s due to muscle weakness, shakiness or sheer brain-fog-induced-clumsiness, but one thing is for sure: I am always dropping things! Usually it’s a breakable item, and most often a glass. Not a huge problem in itself, but it contributes to the fear factor nonetheless and so in keeping with my ‘lets make life easier for myself’ motto I’m currently trying to embrace, I purchased 3 unbreakable tumblers. And not just any tumblers, pretty Orla Kiely designed ones!

It’s a new step for me, making a little change or purchase that makes my days easier, but I highly recommend it… and here are some more ideas…
* Feeling forgetful? Invest in some lovely stationary to make note making more enjoyable.
* Turn simple daily activities into enjoyable rituals. We’ll discuss morning routines in the future in more detail because in my humble opinion creating one that works for you is CRUCIAL, but in short… start experimenting with what helps you in the morning, and if it doesn’t help you then drop it! Other rituals you could implement, either daily or from time to time are lighting a candle, bedtime rituals, mealtime habits or making a cup of tea and really enjoying the experience – choose a flavour you love, sit down and drink it slowly, maybe even alongside a yummy treat!
* Focus on what’s important. This applies to the smallest thought processes through to the biggest decisions. A medium sized example from my life is my brother’s engagement party. It was important to me to be the brightest I could be for the evening and so that meant saying no to getting ready with my mum and sister. While I would have loved to be involved in the pre-party fun, I knew my energy was too limited to expend it before the party even started.
Accept help. People want to help, and often doing something practical is a really concrete way they can say ‘I want this to be easier for you.’ When it is helpful for you (very important caveat for the people pleasers amongst us), say yes to their offers.
Help others. The resulting guilt and uselessness from not being able to support others in the way that we are used to can be crippling. For me this is a huge work in progress… My current solution is to think about what I AM able do for others, and then do it!
* Consider where your energy is ‘leaking’. Again it relates to what is important to you. These past few weeks I have prioritised seeing my friends and family because that is hugely important to me. As a result I have not posted on here, and my flat is a little… shall we say, in need of cleaning love; I can’t do everything though, and I consciously chose to prioritise connecting time over blogging or cleaning time. Each month the balance will be different as my needs and energy levels change, and in the meantime I have treated myself to a once off spring-clean of my apartment. Dust be gone!
* Audiobooks and Podcasts are your friends. Some days it is necessary for me to be a diligent Chronic Fatigue Recoverer, to work on building up my reading tolerance or do exercises to help me ‘forget’ my past experiences of concentrating and build new associations with it, but sometimes I just want to be able to do as close to the activity as possible. Enter audiobooks! Get an Audible account and choose from the huge variety of fiction and non-fiction books available. Alternatively you can listen to BBC iPlayer radio or podcasts. My current favourites are Lauren Laverne’s BBC6 music show and Desert Island Discs. If music isn’t your thing, I have it on good authority that the podcasts A Point of View (writers talking about something from the news that week) and 99% Invisible (about design) are worth a listen.

I hope that these little suggestions will be useful, or perhaps spark thoughts about how smoother sailing could be achieved in your days. Of course sometimes it is necessary to tackle things head on, but at other times consciously choosing to replace the feared activity or problem can bring much needed ease, joy and space. Use the space you create to keep dreaming big. For me, I dream of a trip of a lifetime to India…stay tuned!

These suggestions are the very tip of the iceberg. What do you do to create a sense of smoother sailing in your days? 


 





2 comments:

  1. This is great, so many of these ring true for me. I seem to 'leak' energy badly when trying to multi-task. Does anyone else have any good strategies for dealing with this? (I know, doing one thing at a time helps...)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Beattie. I have to remind myself to just use one screen at a time… and use a small post its for to-do lists!

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