January is one of my favourite months, along with September. As much as I absolutely love Christmas and all the sparkles, festivities and magic, by the time we get to January I’m ready for a clean house and a fresh slate. And as much as I love summer and the holidays and sunshine, by the time September comes, I’m ready for routine once again. I gave up setting (and, like 95% of the population, failing to keep) resolutions a long time ago, but as we move into the Christmas period I always start to get reflective about the year that’s passed and the year to come.
One of the reasons that taking breaks and down time is so important is that it literally gives our brain space. Space to catch up on the processing and space to think. When we’re on the hamster wheel of busy we just don’t give our brain the opportunity to stop, and so we continue to react and rush towards a path without pausing to check whether it’s right or we need to course correct.
I ran some virtual well-being workshops in the lead up to Christmas and one of the attendees said something I’ve heard so many times before. I just need to get through this, and then I’ll be able to take some down time. In fact, I’ve said this before myself. Often it takes someone else to challenge that thinking. In a lot of cases it means you’re trying to push on through something when what you really need to do is stop, take something off your plate, ask for help. We don’t like to do that though, we see it as a sign of weakness when really it’s a sign of strength.
Last year was challenging for most, if not all of us. There were positives in amongst the challenging times, but I think I speak for most people when I say we were glad to see the back of 2020! Although the excitement of a new year was soon diminished with lockdown 3.0, my intention is to continue to focus on the positives. I enjoy having the kids at home during the day (despite regular interruptions to my work day with food requests…I think it runs in the family as we all ask what we’re doing for food whenever we’re together!) and we’ve found a new project to keep us all busy, converting one of the spare rooms into a space where the teenagers can hang out undisturbed. .
When things feel out of control, focus on what you can control. You’re not superman or woman. You don’t need to do everything yourself and run yourself into the ground. Take some time to just stop and think. What do you want? Where do you want to put your energy? What can you delegate and what can you ditch? Spend your time wisely in this one precious life that we have.