It’s easy these days to fall into the trap of feeling powerless. Seclusion, isolation, quarantine, these are familiar words to us these days. While it may seem like a good time to binge-watch your favorite television series, we must also maintain some practices to keep us ready to get back into the swing of things once this situation is resolved.
1. Be Supportive of Yourself
Our inside is our outside. The way we experience the world around us is a direct reflection of the world inside us. If the world inside you is allowed to become discouraging, everything you view outside will be through the lens of discouragement. You won’t see positives. You will see negatives. If our thoughts and energy are not supportive, then our life won’t be supported. For this reason, we must not allow ourselves to slip into discouragement, but rather support ourselves by choosing courage in these moments. These seemingly simple decisions geared toward supporting yourself can greatly change your attitude and viewpoint. Be a good friend to yourself. You like your thoughts and self-talk voice more than any other and you believe your own thoughts and self-talk voice more than any other. If you want to feel supported, support yourself.
2. Recognize the Importance of Family
Sit them down and thank them. Thank them for being supportive, of putting up with the long hours you put in, the miles you travel or for helping in any way they have. Sometimes, you just thank them for being there and loving you. There are going to be times when things are not going ok. You might even start to doubt yourself. Your family can be a wonderful support system during these times, but it is difficult to withdraw if you haven’t made many deposits. Especially with your significant other, you need to keep the lines of communication wide open. It’s ok sometimes to ask for help from them, rather than trying to be superhuman. The negative feelings inside will eventually come to the outside on other things and other ways. It’s best to go ahead and keep the thing, the thing. Open communication and support from those closest to you will help. You can do this with the family that lives with you or utilize an online platform like ZOOM or FaceTime for those you can’t engage face to face.
3. Decide What Is Really Important
Our relationships are the most important parts of our lives. No other success can compensate for failure with our loved ones. When we are rushing out the door, working late, losing our patience, not exercising or doing other things which conflict with the goal of keeping first things first in order of what’s really important to me, I find myself driven but not effective in these important areas. We have choices in life. We can choose where we want to prioritize, and we can choose where we focus our energy. Remember, when we have too many priorities, we really don’t have any. Reminding yourself of what is really important helps you keep first things first and get you the relationship results you will be appreciative for in the future. I have a group of guys who I text with daily sharing jokes and funny stories while we are all working from home.
4. Keep Your Brain Active
Working your brain starts with you. It starts in the realm of your mind. You have the wonderful ability to think and choose. What a powerful thing you and I have. Everything in this world begins with a thought which then forms a word which then translates into a string of words and then into action. It’s amazing to track back your actions to your words and how they began with your thinking. No matter how you think today, whether predominantly positive or negative, you are not hardwired. You can adapt your thinking. You can choose to think differently. Since your actions follow your words and your words follow your thoughts. It would be worth your time to fully examine your way of thinking and how it has led you to where you are in your journey today. Reading, writing, doing crossword puzzles, do anything to keep your brain working.
5. Happiness Is A Choice You Make
Nothing external can transform you from the conflict that resides within you. It’s the amazing fact that once you make the choice to be happy internally for yourself and your life, then the external things become a lot easier. It’s a lot easier to go from thirty to fifty to one hundred thousand when you have made the decision to be happy. Not only that but you begin to make better decisions when you are happy because you are no longer trying to manipulate external things to try to satisfy your need to be happy. Loving yourself and respecting yourself is the first step toward the decision to be happy. Make the decision that this too shall pass, being alive and being happy is the best way to travel through this life.
6. Routine Will Set You Free
While we may be sequestered due to the current circumstances, we must keep as much of our routine as we can. We overestimate what we can do in a day and underestimate what we can do in a year. We set a list of things that are impossible to achieve on our to-do list every day. We don’t take into consideration the interruptions, distractions, focus or curve balls that will be thrown at us. We also underestimate our potential over the course of a year’s time. If we achieve a small percentage of progress each day, in a year, we will have really moved the needle. Achieved, step by step, over many days, as a routine, enormous things are achievable. If you told the average person the pounds of food they would consume in a year, they would balk at such a number, but consumed a little bit at a time each day, big things are possible. Try to keep as much of your routine as you can, and make sure to establish new things in your modified routine to keep you engaged and active.
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