The Long Journey Back To Routine
Working online is hard work. No one ever said it would be easy. But we all know it takes day in day out committment to make this work.
But what if your day in day out routine changes? What do you do then? Panic? Stress? Work youself into the ground trying to keep all those balls juggling at the same time?
No..... Or at least that was my decision when faced with this 5 weeks ago.
I have tried in the past to juggle all the balls when attacks to my online work routine have reared their ugly head, but have come away from it feeling dissatisfied with the work I have done. Its wearing and tiring.
So 5 weeks ago after tearing my achilles and thinking.. well this is the perfect opportunity for me whilst recovering, to get on with work, I find that I am seconded to jury service ! Nothing I could do to get out of it.. hoping though that the case would get cancelled or there would be various delays etc to give me time to do some work whilst there. No such luck. I trailed in on crutches with my backpack of laptop and work in the hopes that each day I would get a chance.... nope...
Then when that ended, i was booked to visit my son in Spain in a tournament (out there at his tennis academy - yes he was supposed to go to the USA this fall for uni on tennis scholarship but as all sports cancelled, hes doing online this semester from Spain)
So I hobbled my way through Heathrow to visit him for a week, thinking again I would get time to sit on the balcony and work... no.... he kept winning !
But the on thing throughout this whole time that I did differently to all the others when my routines are messed up.... I decided to let it go.. not stress... do odd planning here and there, but not have the inner struggle that I should be doing something else, that I should be writing a blog, researching, checking stats, etc I let it go.
Now Im home in two weeks quarantine (UK laws) I can start again. Ive thoroughly enjoyed the week I spent with my son, really cheered me up and today and tomorrow I will write my schedules, get my routine reset.
I dont know what y'all do when this happens to you, but its done me good not to stress about it!
Recent Comments
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I'm happy for you that you're doing better.
You have the perfect attitude, because yes there are times in life when letting go is necessary to recover. I hope things get better and better for you.
Ingrid
Hi Helen, I am so happy you are recovering. I believe it is so important to give ourselves permission to let go.
In early 2019 I had to do just that. I made the decision to stop writing on one of my sites. Whan I came back to it a couple of months later I was stronger than ever.
I had to realize I had not failed or given up but rather accepted the need for a break.
I don’t believe I would have come back so strong if I had stressed over it the whole time.
What others see as giving up or failure we can see as maturity in ourselves.
Laura
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The additional stress we tend to take on when our daily routines are interrupted often get in the way of recovery. Training ourselves to let go, relax, and heal can be very challenging. Glad things are going well for you.
Regards
Billy