My daughter, Melissa, got married. It was a memorable event, full of charm and overflowing emotion. Today, after months of rushing around and intense planning, silence finally hangs in the air here at home. We needed these few days of rest before returning to our work routines and personal duties.
Over the past few weeks, my laptop sat forgotten on my desk. To keep my mind healthy, I needed to temporarily pause my commitment to you, the reader.
I always emphasize that, even though commitments pile up, we must learn how to prioritize them. That is why I had to make a tough choice a few weeks ago. I pictured myself in that exact illustration I mentioned on another occasion: a person who goes to the grocery store and tries to walk back home without any bags, balancing everything in their arms. It was an agonizing feeling that everything was about to come crashing down at any moment.
My focus kept slipping away, and inspiration simply wouldn’t strike. That was when I decided to ask Franco for a truce. It had been nearly two years since I started writing again, and since then, I hadn’t missed a single week. Even when I traveled, I made sure to leave chronicles ready. But this time, life demanded my exclusive attention. And I gave it.
Stress and anxiety are two factors capable of wrecking both our physical and mental health. That is why it is vital to find ways to improve our routines so that everything flows much better. In his book Getting Things Done, David Allen introduces us to tools that are practically the bible of stress-free productivity.
With the subtitle “Getting Control of Your Life: The Five Steps of Mastering Workflow,” Allen suggests a simpler path that has truly helped me resume my writing routine and health care without feeling overwhelmed.
Now, with my energy renewed, it is time to come back. To return to writing and self-care without letting the grocery bags drop again, I will apply this method to recalibrate my routine. After all, it is always worth remembering: even the most beautiful and happiest events in our lives can demand a lot from us and trigger an emotional toll on our mental health if we don’t know when to stop.
What about you? Looking at your routine today, what are the bags you need to let go of right now to keep everything else from crashing to the ground?
Think about it. Next week, I want to share with you how I am putting this into practice. See you then!
