2022 was a strange year for me.
I spent most of it trying to promote my first book only to discover in the very last week of the year that the vast majority of my social media followers hadn’t seen a single post about it. In fact, people reported they hadn’t seen a post from me in months to years. I’d long suspected I’d done something to compromise my relationship with Jane, but it seems she may be giving me a chance to make things right. If you see this, Jane, I’d love to talk and see what we can do. And I apologize for upsetting you to begin with.
As I dealt with the conundrum of a disconnected audience, my garden, once a place of joy, peace, and restoration, became somewhere I couldn’t stand to be due to factors beyond my control. For years, my carefully cultivated yard had been an integral part of my stress management as well as a source of daily meditation, and without this cherished resource, I was challenged to look deeper inside myself for a sense of peace. Reluctantly and with great heartbreak, I had to let go of my garden for half the year and find other means to maintain my well-being. It was a critical hit to my routine and favorite hobby.
I spent more time journaling and meditating to address my inner turmoil. I spent more time caring for my indoor plants, though I missed the soil underneath my feet. I began to find myself uninspired to create or share my gifts and insight as often or openly as I had, but I fought to stay motivated, and through these challenges I was reminded of the importance of adaptability.
The world we live in is constantly in flux. Laws change, policies change, ancient forests get turned into modern shopping centers, the weather is far more unpredictable than it used to be (in my experience - Houston has had a frost 3 years running after many years without them), new roads transform the countryside, food prices rise, our neighbors change, and so on. It seems that consistency is rare and we cannot rely on anything to stay predictably the same.
Our best chance at adapting to whatever circumstances we’re thrown into comes with a strong well-being: Mind, body, and spirit. When we’re dealing with something unfavorable or completely pushed off track, our well-being is often the first thing we neglect. Ironically, wellbeing is the very thing we should focus on to stay on track and deal with unfavorable things in a productive manner. Not to mention, wellbeing is also our most precious resource. That said, where are we supposed to draw the motivation from to stay resolute in our wellness routines when we feel overwhelmed or defeated? What happens when the wellness routines we have worked so hard to create are jeopardized?
We have to go back to the drawing board, dig deep and create new routines. Regardless of how topsy-turvy our circumstances and challenges become, we need to be our own consistency. Another word for being our own consistency is discipline. We have to be disciplined. Adding discipline to our lives helps us maintain constant control over our actions regardless of the depth of the valley we are in or the height of the mountain we have to climb.
In the current world economy, our wellness isn’t as valuable as our illnesses, so the challenge is finding, creating, and maintaining routines once you have created them. It is far harder to focus on wellbeing and being productive because there are more systems that make money on your struggles than your successes. That means it is up to you to stay focused.
For me, creating my consistency and inserting control over my life started with scheduling my time, and designing my schedule around prioritizing my wellbeing.
When I first inserted more discipline into my schedule to manage a disruption to my routine, here’s how I broke it down:
Scheduling + Journaling (Mind)
Exercise + Stretching (Body)
Hobbies + Displacement (Spirit)
I already journaled at this time but decided to make it a greater part of my day. I went from one entry a day to two and three. I calendared all of my to do’s and goals, breaking them down daily, weekly, and monthly. I began to find myself in more control of my time with less anxiety about what I have accomplished or needed to do, despite the disruption.
I made exercise a priority, but I also made sure that time to stretch before and after were also included. I wanted to increase my flexibility, and as it improved, so did my ability to relax and compromise. I find that a flexible body facilitates a flexible mind - one that is adaptable to changes and challenges. The more rigid I feel physically, the more confined I feel mentally.
I made a point to focus on hobbies that were both productive and engaging. I played more games and made a point to take more walks, go to more parks, and spend more time outside in new places.
When our time is limited due to work and personal responsibilities, we may not be able to make time for our hobbies, comprehensive exercise, and journaling every day. Making a weekly schedule of what we’ll make time for on each day ensures we’re still supporting our mind, body, and spirit on a consistent basis. During my time as a teacher and administrator, I was lucky if I had an hour of personal free time to myself a day. Using that hour to nourish my mind, body, and/or spirit kept me sane during the hardest of times.
I used the activities described above in 2022 when I experienced an unwelcome shift in my routine (losing my garden) and needed to stay adaptable and consistent in caring for myself. Although I would have preferred to maintain access to my garden, having a plan to fall back on allowed me to end the year feeling strong, resilient, and prepared for 2023.
And this brings me to Substack. I was encouraged to create a Substack towards the end of last year and the more I learned about the platform, the more I came to appreciate its approach and model. I was drawn to its lack of Algorithm-based distribution, and because content is sent directly to inboxes, content is more likely to be seen by people who want to see it.
But as I began to share here, I realized that I’d created an unsustainable content model for myself. Not only was the time commitment a strain on my energy and general workload, but the dimming flame of my inspiration flickered in and out. I don’t want to churn out content for the sake of creating content, so I’ve decided to make everything on my Substack free and I’ll share when inspired to do so. I do enjoy writing and sharing when something strikes me, and this is when I produce my best work.
Furthermore, I want resources I share here to be available to all so we can all grow together. I will maintain monthly office hours for founding members, and anyone who would like to support my work can continue to do so, but there will be little to no difference in what paying and free subscribers receive.
Thank you all for subscribing to Life’s Toolbox, and I look forward to sharing more with you in 2023.
Well, really, love this piece! I can relate to losing a place that you spent a lot of time building and attending and caring for… Some thing that was a big piece of your peace and destressing and love! Adaptability is so critical, and it can be so hard when you’ve taken a critical hit like that.