Focus on the next 24 hours only
Focus on the next 24 hours only
There are so many unknowns, so many questions, so much we don't know, so much we can't control and it all feels unmanageable.
'It's all too much' was a phrase I used to trot out all the time because for a fair few years everything felt like too much! So while the impact of this pandemic is brand new to all of us I am pretty well experienced in the 'it's too much' overwhelm feeling.
You may be spending much of your time in the Survival stage of this diagram.
How we get a handle on all the uncertainty and bring down the overwhelm is to focus on what is manageable for each of us.
And how we do that is to focus not on what's going to happen in a week or a month's time, not on what could happen, not on what other people are doing, not on how life could look in three months.
But instead focus on the next 24 hours.
What do you need to do and what do you want to do in the next 24 hours? You won't break your life or your career by just focusing on the next 24 hours but you will make it a whole lot more manageable.
And what you need or want to do is going to look different for each of us depending on our unique lives and on how we're feeling. For the next day you might decide to throw yourself into work and have a social media blackout. Or you might spend the day in the garden or watching a box set. Or you might talk to your best mate for hours via video call. Or you might go back to bed for an epic nap.
Or it might be a combination of all of the above and it'll change throughout the day depending on what you're needing in the moment.
And don't forget to include something purely for the joy of it. As humans we need release and relief, we need light along with the shade. Doing something purely for fun doesn't make you any less responsible or caring than someone who watches the news for seven hours straight. (Side note: the only people who might need to watch the news for seven hours straight are the people reporting the news.)
This is a LOT to deal with, no-one has had to face a global pandemic before, and you don't have to do it on your own.
I am running three online workshops on:
- Feeling better able to cope
- Taking care of your mental wellbeing
- Finding, feeling and creating joy
and they are available for you to sign up to right now.
You’ll come away from each workshop equipped with practical tools, strategies and practices, based in positive psychology, to feel calmer, more confident you can handle life’s curveballs and more joyful.
Each online workshop stands alone and they also complement each other beautifully so it's your choice whether you take one, two or all three of them.
The sessions will be live and if you can't join me at the time you'll get the recording to watch whenever you choose (you get the recording even if you do join me live!).
Click here to find out all about the workshops and take your place.
