I Need A Plan To Sort My Life Out. Right Now It’s A Flaming Pile Of Crap
Hi Musers. Don’t worry, this is not a whingey post. I am very dissatisfied with my life at the moment. My depression is responsible for a significant portion of my problems. It has sapped all my energy, meaning my diet, amount of exercise, freelancing, and full-time job have all suffered. The only reason my relationships haven’t suffered is that my husband and sister are so understanding. I need a plan to sort my life out.
What’s Wrong
- I am still very depressed. I’m tearful or irritable most of the day
- The depression and/or antidepressant withdrawal makes my mind feel foggy, making it hard to concentrate on my full-time job, freelance writing career and this blog
- I have no energy whatsoever. Seriously, even climbing the stairs to go to bed feels like climbing Everest. For that reason, I am taking very little exercise and eating far more takeaways and convenience foods than I should
- I write almost all my blogs or paid for pieces on the day they’re due
What I’m Managing
- I shower or take a bath most days
- I was my hair twice per week
- I get dressed and wear clean clothes
- I apply sunscreen every day
- I manage to cook meals between 3 and 5 days per week
- My house is tidy enough, aided a lot by Mike
- Except for two weeks, I have still been working every day at my main job
My Plan To Sort My Life Out
The thing most people do wrong when trying to make changes to their lives is going from 0-60 immediately. They try to change everything! That simply doesn’t work. It’s too much too soon, and before you know it, you’re on the fast track to burnout.
That’s why when I made my plan to sort my life out, I also devised strategies. I am going to change a maximum of one thing per goal, per week. If I find I’m not sticking to it, I’ll reduce even more to one change to only one goal per week. The key is to build habits, to build consistency.
My Goals
- To have a minimum of three blog posts in hand in case I struggle to write for any reason
- To do some form of exercise 6 days per week and a gym workout minimum 2 days per week
- To eat nutritious, home-cooked meals 15 out of 21 meals
I realise this doesn’t address my full-time job, but at the moment, I’m not 100% sure about what I want to do/what I can do, so I’m leaving this on the back burner.
I also have a goal to feel happy, but beyond my medication starting to work, I have no idea how to achieve this. Answers on a postcard, please!
Initial Steps
I’m going to steal from the outstanding Shaunta Grimes here. She recommends setting goals that are so small it’s easier to do them than make an excuse not to. This is excellent advice, so I’m going to implement it in my plan to sort my life out.
Writing – Another direct theft from Shaunta. She sets herself a goal of writing for 10 minutes every day. Of course, on many days, she writes a lot more, but 10 minutes is the minimum. I genuinely believe how busy, or ill, or depressed I get, I should be able to manage that. I hope that once I start, I’ll build up that article buffer zone.
Exercise – To take 10 minutes of exercise every day. It can be just a walk or a session at the gym. The key is that I commit to doing it daily.
Nutrition – I’m starting with breakfast as that’s the easiest meal, in my opinion. To increase my chances of success, I made my own granola and fruit compote today. I’ve also bought an extra-large tub of natural yoghurt, so breakfast this week will be yoghurt, granola and compote. Done 😃
Here Goes
I won’t lie; even though I know these steps are tiny, I’m still worried I won’t achieve them. I worry that I’ll fail and feel like even more of a loser. However, I’d like to think that my goals are small enough to achieve them.
I’m not going to bore you all by letting you know how I get on each week. I will check in every month or so to keep me accountable, if nothing else. Both 2020 and 2021 have been crappy years for the majority of us. I think that now has to be the moment I start to make things better.
Care To Join Me?
You all now know my plan to sort my life out, but what’s yours? If your life is completely tickety-boo at the moment, I’m really happy for you. If you’re also struggling a little, feel free to pop your plans into the comments. It’s always good to have company on the journey 😃
If you’re enjoying what I do here and want to give me an energy boost, feel free to buy me a coffee 🙂
