Inspiration for this Week: The Holiday Rush!

Christmas Can Can- Straight No Chaser

One of my favorite holiday songs and what a better way to emulate the feeling we all get during these last few days leading up until Christmas. 

Are you in a Christmas panic? Not finished (or haven't started) Christmas shopping yet? The house a wreck and in-laws come in a couple days? Are you having some Pinterest fails trying to make that perfect dessert?

Theme This Week: One-Mindfully

It can be easy to get swept up in the holiday rush and feel like you're a chicken running around with it's head cut off. There's sooooo much to do and so little time to do it! And then suddenly the time that's supposed to be spent being joyful and merry turns into being frantic and frazzled.

Does your day look something like this?

Pick up the laundry basket to take it to the washer. Notice a bib and bottle on the table, so throw the bib in the basket, but decide to bring the bottle to the sink to be washed, so you put the basket down. Get to the sink and notice some garbage that you can throw away, so you do that, but the trash bin is overflowing. So you take out the trash, but decide to grab the mail. Bring the mail in and set it down but notice some cards you have to finish so you start those. The list goes on...

You end your day feeling exhausted but look around and realize nothing is actually done. The laundry basket is still in the living room, the dishes aren't clean, there's no trash bag in the bin, the mail has been unopened. So now you're confused how you did so much and accomplished so little!

Slow dooooooooown. Stop. Take a deep breath innnnnn through your nose and ouuuuuuuut through your mouth. Now take a step back and think about all of the things you are trying to accomplish. We have been socialized to think that multitasking is the way, but it can be quite counter-productive. 

Instead choose to be mindful and focus on one task at a time. This is a concept in DBT called one-mindfully. Focus solely on the task at hand and don't get too ahead of yourself. If you are having a conversation with someone, don't be checking your phone. If you are eating dinner, don't watch TV at the same time. If you are getting the laundry done, don't pick up items for trash. Focusing only on the task at hand allows us to finish things to completion and be more effective in getting through our to-do lists, leaving us feeling more energized, productive, and relieved.

Challenge this Week: Focus on One Thing at a Time!

I know you're probably thinking the only way to get through the million things you have to do is multitask, but I promise that is not the answer. I can literally attest to this as this is the second time I'm writing this post because I rushed/multitasked, and forgot to hit the nifty little save button yesterday. So now I am adding extra tasks/time because I wasn't giving the newsletter my full attention to completion. A simple "I'll just respond to this email" with the intention of being productive turned into me repeating my to-do list. So don't worry, I'm in the challenge right there with you!

Instead, try out the hack of doing things one-mindfully. I do this by noticing when I am in that "ADHD productive mode" I described above and I literally say out loud "stop, what are you doing right now?" I describe what I'm doing, and when I feel the urge to do something else, I make a mental note or even write it down, so I know to come back to it later. And I turn my full attention to the task at hand. You may have to turn your mind over to the task at hand multiple times and that is okay. However, doing things one at a time can help us be more effective and less stressed as we navigate these busy holiday days!