Ugh, Life Happened!!
So you set your goals, make a plan to reach them, and have a strategy for accountability and wham, something completely derails everything. Has this ever happened to you? I will be shocked if anyone says it hasn’t. Sometimes the interference is minor such as planning to go for a hike and the forecast changes to rain and sleet. Annoying yes, life changing, no, so we grumble, move on and make a different plan. But what if the event is life altering, loss of a job, a loved one dies, or the world continues to be unpredictable? Game changer indeed!
We can make all the plans we want but life in unpredictable which is part of the fun but also feels unnerving at times, and we humans like order and predictability. What to do?
My advice, compartmentalizing! Not avoidance of feeling the feels and dealing with whatever has happened but teaching ourselves how to still be productive, move through our days AND process feelings about events and continue to reach our goals.
Keep your goals and plan but pick one or two to focus on rather than all of them. I recommend goals that impact all aspects of our lives for example getting more sleep. Continuing to work towards this goal give us a focus other than the event and will help us to remain healthier. If falling asleep it too hard, do a brain dump before you go to bed. This doesn’t have to be formal writing, just write down any thought that comes into your head. Getting it out helps us to release it from our mind. Pick another goal, staying organized. When looking at our to-do list, add in time to process feelings and emotions, go for a walk (exercise built in while working on organization, bonus) talk with a friend, see a concert, anything that simply feels good. It is easier to process something awful when we feel stronger.
When at work or school, take breaks when needed. Take a few moments to reset. Too many times we try and slog through the work and are not fully focused which turns into a less than full quality product and more time to try and do it. We are fighting against ourselves which is exhausting. Walk up and down a few flights of stairs, do stretches in the bathroom, whatever, just something that burns off some of the anxious energy and will help us get back to full focus. We can train ours brains to compartmentalize what we need to do and process what has happened.
Of course if these few strategies do not help, reach out, I have many, many more ideas about how to remain focused but sometimes we need support beyond a coach and that is completely ok!! There are a multitude of resources for support and I can help with that too.
Remember, life is messy, and wonderful, and complicated but we are complex beings that have a huge amount of coping skills, we just need to tap into them.
Be well.