Once upon a time _______. Every day _______. But one day_____ because of that ______ because of that _____ because of that _____ until finally ______. And ever since then __________.
Once upon a time that was a middle-aged woman who spent all of her time working for her employer.
Every day she logged in as early as she could rouse herself and she worked as late as she could stay awake. She even worked on Saturday and Sunday. The only time she wasn’t working was when she had another planned activity like a baseball game, monthly Card Club, First Thursday Book Club or an occasional walk with a friend.
But one day, she decided she didn’t want to keep giving all of her limited amount of energy to her work and she wanted to get back to the lifestyle she had before she lost her job where she had a lot of energy.
Because of that, she started using TaskHuman and working with Jean to explore Journaling as a way to play, empty and relieve her mind of countless new ideas, transition out of work and into something else, and to connect with herself and her needs and desires for who she spends her time.
Because of that, she started getting inspired to make changes, but she was scared. What is she couldn’t do it? What if she couldn’t sustain it?
Because of that, she talked to her therapist about this and she had several ideas for the woman. 1) Block an hour every work day to prep for tomorrow so that she can not go back to work in the evening. 2) Establish a weekly focus — one new activity or approach to try for a week. 3) Consider setting aside one day a week where she has no meetings (like the mental health day she took last week). 4) Consider creating a worksheet to act as a visual reminder of her ritual for the day. Use it to capture the highest priority ideas that need to stay top of mind for tomorrow. 5) Consider reading two books: Free to Focus and Deep Work. Her therapist also shared a new idea. The opposite of Trauma is Play!
Until finally, the woman decided it was time. She was about to embark on a 10-day trip to visit her daughter in New Zealand (and work!), but she established a Start Date of June 1st for this next chapter. As a pre-reward, she will get a summer membership at the YMCA.
And ever since then, the woman has been living her best life, with lots of energy and time for family and friends, time to revive old hobbies like digital scrapbook and rock tumbling, and most importantly, time and energy for the best self-care in the world with wonderful nutritious food, daily walks, time for introspection and idea play, and plenty of high-quality sleep.