There are 24 hours in a day, that means we should pack it full, right? Well, it depends what you define as full. In an ideal world, this would be going for a morning run on the beach, followed by brunch with your closest friends, followed by an evening relaxing in front of the fire with a hot cup of coffee, a wool blanket and your old dog-eared copy of Whittier’s best poems.This sounds wonderful, but for most of us, our packed days start with traffic jams and end with sorting piles of mismatched socks. In between that time frame, we also manage to ace our board meeting presentation, drop off cupcakes at the school fundraiser, plan a surprise party for our best friend, and volunteer at the local Humane Society. We arrive at home hours before we have to wake up again, just to repeat the entire cycle all over again.
Home often greets us with trash cans overflowing, dogs barking, laundry stinking, and babies crying. Life is so beautifully stressful, but that doesn’t mean every day has to be borderline miserable. Below, we’ve created a simple list to help you win each day, and avoid drowning under the stress that full lives create.
- “NO” Your Limits: Learn when to say no. No to homemade cupcakes with sugar sprinkle butterflies. No to hosting your child’s hockey team for a pre-game feast. No to that work project you’re overqualified for. Say “no” to the excess, and “yes” to what you’ve been dreaming about.
- Outsource: You don’t need to clean another baseboard or fold another towel. Outsourcing is in! Hire Wash Hampton to do your laundry and find a part-time house cleaner or college student to help with random chores and meal prep.
- Take A Day Off: Take 12 hours to yourself. Granted you probably can’t do this all the time. Go on a hike with a loved one, go window shopping, take your dog for a run. Just take a moment to breathe.
- Plan: Sometimes it helps to see how insane your load is if you write everything down. Then you can have a more tangible understanding of exactly where all your time is going. Excel spreadsheets work well too.
- Calm Down: Take the last 30 minutes of your commute, or a few minutes before bed, to silently reflect, meditate, journal, whatever you need to unwind and recenter yourself. Life is crazy even if you prioritize, so allowing yourself to breathe is essential. Bonus tip: Enjoy a hot cup of chamomile tea. (It really works!)
What do you think? Are these helpful? Let us know in the comments below.
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