“No-Fail” Friday: Modified schedule

 

Florist Showing Empty Design Space Paper on Wooden Table

Did you all see that funny post about January that was making its way around social media over the past week or so? I mean, that’s me in a nutshell every year. You know what we managed to do, though, every last single one of us, is make it all the way to February. February! It’s finally here. Spring is around the corner. That little guy, Phil, in Pennsylvania, may have disagreed this morning, but regardless. Time marches on, and there will be Spring.

This is one of those few times when a ticking clock is a relief, and the fact that nothing ever stays the same is fabulous news. 

There are other occasions – as we discussed earlier this week – when our preference would be that time take a few deep breaths of its own and shift the “passing by” thing down a notch. Deadlines, stacked to-do lists, overwhelming agendas…we know we do it to ourselves, but we do it anyway.

It’s easy to get caught up in, well, trying to get caught up. You can’t do that when you keep adding to the pile, though. Remember what I said on Wednesday. If you think the future is going to be different than the present, but you can’t get a handle on the present, then you’re in for a rough surprise when the future becomes…the present. It’s not going to be different if you aren’t.

Mindfulness helps you to be flexible. It makes you better at connecting to that sense of overwhelm so you can do something about it, rather than distracting yourself from it, and doing too many things not well enough.

So challenging! Yet, so possible, which you’ll discover when you try it on for yourself in this weekend’s “no-fail” mindfulness challenge.

Even though weekends are designed to be down-time for many of us, they often end up being the miscellaneous bin of all the things you couldn’t get to during the week. They’re the “other” category on your agenda, which is to say that they may be holding plenty of gems, but there’s other stuff in there, too. It’s kind of a random collection, and there’s a good chance that trying to do it all is going to leave you face-planted on the couch by Sunday evening.

Let’s be real about this. I mean, how much can one weekend do for you? It’s just two days. And let’s not forget its primary job is to make space for you to relax, restore and recharge for that M-word that comes on day 3.

Sit still for a second, take a breath, and think about each of the things you plan to do this weekend, starting with tonight’s line-up. Go through each item on the list, and take note of how you feel when you do. What makes you feel relaxed, excited, motivated, etc.? What makes you the opposite of those things? Make notes of the feelings you associate with each of your plans. Then, take a second look.

Of the things that make you feel uneasy, what is a must-do regardless? Adulting is hard, and sometimes you have to push through. I’m guessing that not everything on that “yuck” list is a must-do, though. Some things may have seemed ok on the surface until you checked in with yourself to see how you really felt about them. Maybe you can’t bail now, but even if not, these are great notes for next time.

The challenge here is to become mindful of how you use your time. Overscheduling is overcommitting, and commitment is an important act. Just like everything else you do, you can make it intentional, so your time is spent with exactly that in mind, and at heart.

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