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Let’s face it, being confined to home can be a little depressing. Of course, we all work hard to maintain a nice home, offering a place of peace and rest and relaxation OR family fun and chaos and gatherings. Home is also where we are most comfortable in our pajamas, sporting uncombed hair, and just being our most relaxed. Home is all of these things because it offers a safe retreat after dealing with the outside world of work and stress or friends and gatherings or obligations. When we are stuck at home, forced to experience all of our daily events in one place, home can begin to feel boring and restricting and a source of stress.
I can’t change any of these feelings you might be having about being at home, but I can offer that actually making a list of every basic thing you need or want to do during the day, and then crossing off what you accomplish, can help!
Make a list that includes mostly the basics of the daily tasks you should do (getting dressed, doing the dishes, making your bed, work…) sprinkled with one or two ‘out of the box’ items (reorganize your junk drawer). Creating a list that is filled with everyday typical tasks can actually make you feel like you are accomplishing more.
When we are confined the simple task of getting dressed can feel like a chore and requires some effort. I actually debate with myself wondering why I would need to change out of my pajamas since I am not going anywhere. I can further rationalize that staying in my pajamas will save me from doing laundry.
However, as comfortable as it is to work from home in my pjs, not getting dressed is actually adding to my feelings of confinement. If I get dressed, and cross it off my list, I feel better about the prospects of what else I might accomplish during the day. Add to my accomplishments completing my work (cross it off), cleaning up my breakfast, lunch and dinner dishes (cross off, cross off, cross off) and laundry (cross off). Soon enough I have a visual reminder of everything I achieved during the day.
Once I start crossing off my list things like cleaning out a closet and doing a puzzle, I start feeling like I have also achieved balance during my day by stimulating both sides of my brain.
Continuing to add to my daily to-do list things like exercise and facetime a friend adds to my sense of production during this extremely isolating time. Eventually, I get into a routine of sipping my morning coffee and creating my list, taking note of the closets I have already cleaned out and the work I have accomplished, and I feel more and more productive! This morning, I added Write Column and Paint Nails to my list.
DONE! DONE!
Kathy Naumann, possessor of NATURALLY curly hair and the understanding that you can’t control everything!
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