Experimenting With A New Daily Routine
Recognizing the Need for Something Different
It’s almost Christmas. Just two more days. Today, I made cookies with Alex so that he and his grandparents can go and deliver them to his tutor here and to three of our aunts. He was excited and I thoroughly enjoyed the process. But, more than that, I enjoyed what the process represented. Since I’ve been home, in Tennessee, I’ve been working really hard on drafting what I believe to be a more sustainable daily routine for once we go back to DC. I’ve prioritized the things most important to me and built my days around those things. It’s been my hope that doing so will help me not to neglect any of things that are most important to me and that I will spend less time feeling like I’ve failed or unfulfilled .
Self Care First - Starting The Day Inspired
This morning, I experimented with the morning portion of that new written schedule. When I awakened, I stayed in bed and turned to look out at the beautiful view. I reached for my computer, checked email and settled in for a SkillShare class and then a YouTube video. By checking email first thing, I can quickly ascertain any critical things that need immediate attention, thus removing the stress of “wondering” if I’m missing anything for work or ministry. Doing this from bed allows me to control how formal it all seems.
If you don’t already know, I am a huge fan of video content. I love learning new things and I’m inspired by watching other peoples’ journeys. Youtube is a huge place of relaxation for me. SkillShare is a little more structured, but teaches me new information and skills in bite-sized, manageable lessons. Starting off my day with new inspiration is a really awesome thing!
Giving the “Best” Time of Day to the Best Part of Me
After I finished those things, I climbed out of bed and dressed and then the morning was committed to Alex. This, I believe, will be critical to my feeling of success. I’ve spent the past year trying to give him the best of me, all the while feeling like it wasn’t enough. He’s so smart and strong and learns so many things so quickly, but fluent reading is evading him. Traditional school settings have not been a good fit for him and so we have done an unschooling style of homeschooling. Now that he’s 8 years old and we have learned that he has struggled to see, I have a strategy for moving forward with his learning. We will spend the rest of this year focusing on mainly reading. My goal is to have him independently reading simple books by 9 and reading at level by the time he turns 10. But this is going to take time and persistence. I’m prepared for both.
Dedicating the rest of the morning to Alex was absolutely delightful. By dealing with email and work-related demands from bed before his day began, I was able to give my full attention to him rather than being distracted by the thought of what “might” be waiting for me in my work inbox.
Continuing to Experiment
I won’t take you though my whole day in this post because I’m still experimenting with what the rest of my day might end up looking like. I have it sketched out and in the coming days, I will be trying out different aspects to see what works and what doesn’t. I don’t expect things to be perfect from Day One. My goal is to try, tweak and improve upon each day until I hit that sweet spot.
Do you have any tips and tricks you would recommend for setting and sticking to a daily routine? Share down in the comments.