WAYS TO RELISH THE DAY TO DAY

A few months ago, I wrote up a list of ways to stay ahead of myself and I am revisiting them now and posting them here as a sort of rallying cry. It has gotten freezing cold the past few weeks, and the plummeting temperatures mean my spirits and resolve take a nosedive as well.  As I read through this list I'm remembering that I wrote this up to remind myself that it's important not just survive but to THRIVE!! Practicing these habits each week help me really relish the day to day.

One of the most helpful things for me these days has been to sit down at the beginning of the week and visualize the days ahead. I look at my calendar and bullet journal to mentally prepare myself for what is coming up and make task lists for each thing. I usually do this on Monday mornings which 1) makes Monday a little less dreadful, and 2) gets me ready and excited for the week. 

Here are some of the other things that I've been practicing, in the spirit of relishing: 

1. Prepare all of our meals for the week: We take Sunday afternoons to do this and have made it a family event with Sloane helping where she can. This is a lifesaver for me during the weekdays, and gives me a few extra minutes to spend with the girls instead of preparing dinner when I get home from work. 

2. Prioritize bedtime: This means valuing bedtime routines and the quality time it allows us to have with the girls, but it also means making sure that we ourselves go to sleep at a reasonable time. 

3. Wake up early: Prioritizing bed time is important to me because I want to wake up early! I've said this before but morning times have become so precious to me - for meditating, for mentally preparing for the day, for writing, for appreciating my family - and I want to maximize it as much as I can. 

4. Come up with a system for doing everyday chores: there are household things that need to get done every day, like washing pump parts, packing our lunches, washing dishes, tidying up, etc. and I have found that the most painless thing to do is to do them them the night before.

5. Write everything down: I assess the upcoming week but I also look ahead and try to plan things weeks and months ahead. This helps me look forward to things and also helps evaluate whether too much is going on. I am also a great lover of lists so I make lists for everything - grocery, books I've read, books I want to read, ideas for events, ideas for trips, things that Sloane says, etc.

6. Reflect: In addition to the above, I have found that writing a blog has been such a great way to keep up the discipline of reflecting. And reflecting inevitably leads to appreciating, experiencing gratitude and feeling full. 

7. Enjoy the errands: There are certain errands that need to get done each week, the main one being grocery shopping, and I realized that a slight change in perspective can make a world of difference. Instead of thinking of it as a chore and a drag, we make it a family outing and it has been something that we all enjoy doing because we get to do it together. 

8. Get in the habit of looking forward to everything: Whenever I start to feel a sense of dread or anxiety about the future, I stop and readjust my focus on the small things. One of the best ways I have found to being content is to look forward to all of the small things that I know will happen each day. So instead of trying to breeze through the week to get to the weekend, only to then dread the next week, I think about how much I'm looking forward to seeing the girls first thing in the morning, to getting into bed with Ken each night, to the quiet of the workday, to that first cup of coffee, to the hot shower, etc. It makes me feel like I am the luckiest person in the world. 

....Now if I could only get a handle on our laundry each week..