Shift your mindset and fill your days with joyful gratitude for what you get to do.
Normally, I would be starting up a super busy middle school track season on Monday and getting into the nitty gritty of end of the year work at my school libraries. Today, I would be filling out my weekly to do list in my planner and writing everybody's schedules on our fridge calendar. I'm an organizer and a planner and I get things done. I like to be productive...and I'm good at it. But I also understand the importance of being adaptable.
I am doing my part to flatten the curve and haven't left our ranch in a week. On day one, I had to fight the urge to check off all of my spring cleaning tasks. On day three, I didn't do anything. By day four, I decided I needed to figure out my new normal. So, life has slowed down considerably. I'm staying busy but I'm not always "productive." And I'm absolutely loving my time at home. What I know for sure is that I have at least one more week of living this life (it could, of course, be much longer). What I'm also certain of is that I'll always be a list person, so I created a Daily Get To Do List to help guide me through this time at home...staying happy and staying healthy and staying grateful. Check it out!
I posted this a few days ago on a group that I manage on Facebook and was overwhelmed with emotion when a member posted about how anxious this situation is making her and how my list served as inspiration for her to make her own:
"I decided to do more than self-care and started decluttering and simplifying my life and getting rid of clothes and other things that no longer serve me. I created my own, 'Daily Get to Do List'....and today when I started to feel like I might start running on the wheel again and not get anything done, I looked at my list and picked an item that I 'got' to do."
Over the last week, I've re-discovered how much time I have in a day. I love looking at my list and knowing that I can do all of these things in and around my home all in one day and still have time to spare! If you haven't already done something similar, I encourage you to create your own Get To Do List and see how it shifts your mindset about living in this uncertain time.
Scottie is a middle and high school librarian, middle school track and cross country coach, and yoga teacher. She and her husband are raising two boys (11 and 15) who, they have very recently discovered, eat a lot. As a family, they love to travel the world but also fully accept that their summer travel plans may change from an Icelandic road trip to ranch camping in their teardrop camper.