Cut yourself some slack

2020 has been a right off for many of us and our plans. Weddings have been postponed, plans for holidays in exotic places cancelled and even smaller projects have been altered. The uncertainty of what can we do when has tremendously impacted my family, friends and clients. Are you in a similar boat?

Spiralling downwards

For weeks, I’ve beaten myself up for not pursuing some projects. You’ll have seen that this year, I haven’t blogged every Monday. To be honest, my energy and focus just wasn’t there. There have been set ups and attention was required for other activities. The guilty conscience was hanging over me like a dark cloud, not letting go and every week, it would get worse. Ever experienced something similar?

Don’t beat yourself up

It’s quite harsh language to “beat yourself up”, don’t you think? You wouldn’t you beat yourself up in real life, so why are we saying it?

With Insta telling us how beautiful our life should be, we are in a world of perfectionism. Except life isn’t perfect, especially not this year!

It’s our own fault that we didn’t achieve our goals this year, right? No! Many of us experienced a whole new level of low energy and fatigue and simply couldn’t concentrate on our ambitious plans.

Accept it

During lockdown, many of us had great ideas. You’ve heard it. “I’ll read those books.” “I’ll work out at home.” “I’ll take that course.” You’ve may have had those plans, too.

Well, for many of us, these plans didn’t materialise and there’s no point beating yourself up now. Accept that the past is gone. Like Eckhart Tolle says: “The past has no power over present moment.” So why waste your energy worrying about the things you can’t change?

Move on

Knowing that we only life in the now, we need to adjust our thinking. Sure, we can keep going, alter our plans, then alter them a bit more, and a bit more. Trust me, I’ve done that!

When we realise that all we’re doing is postponing our plans, we can accept and let go. David Allen from GTD Getting Things Done once proposed to have those “someday projects”. If you have the time, then you’ll work on them. Those plans we are more serious about will be ranked higher in our priority list.

Be realistic

You are probably rearranging some of plans and are telling me in a second that they all are dear to you. After all, you’ve been wanting to refresh your French for years. It’s wonderful that you’ve found the energy to take that online course 2x a week.

While we may no longer experience the Zoom burnout like we did during lockdown, we need to be mindful of how full we pack our calendar. There are only 24 hours in a day and adding one more hour of planned activities may not seem as much. If you are already working 9 hours, driving to the office for another hour, cooking for the family after work, checking the kids’ homework and spending some time with them, oh, wait, was there some gym time too?

Don’t overwhelm your calendar and deplete your batteries now that we’re out of lockdown and for some it’s “back to normal”. Don’t beat yourself up if you fall of the waggon. Sit back, have a break and explore what’s really important for you. Pick those activities and channel your energy for what brings you joy and replenishes your energy.

On that note, I’m looking after the little garden. What are you doing this week?

Until next time,
Agni