With the time change causing the nighttime to visit us sooner than ever and with the winter season right around the corner, this is the time of year when I try to cultivate more ease into everyday life. Even those of us who are more intentional with our life and try to create more simplicity can still inevitably find themselves in a time and space where they are simply busy and need to dedicate more time to things that require more attention. Whether it be work, family, the obligations of a holiday season, buying or selling a house, new relationships, new pets or a combination of any of these, one universal truth is that eventually life will enter a busy season.
While we may not be able to evade this fact of life, there are things we can do to cultivate more ease into our everyday life so that a busy season can be handled with more efficiently and with grace.
Never Tell Yourself “I Am Overwhelmed”
Life is nothing more than the stories we tell ourselves which is good news because that means we get to choose the stories we tell on purpose. There will be days where the work just keeps on coming and could even stack up at times, but never tell yourself that I was overwhelmed. Simply tell yourself, I have things to complete and let that be it. Do not try to absorb every thing that is needed to be completed at one time or look at the long list of tasks ahead. Simply work on one task at a time giving it your full attention to completion, and then move it off the list and simply work on the next one. When you adopt the mindset of “I simply have things to do” instead of telling yourself that it’s too much or that you’re overwhelmed, then you create a mindset of ease to just simply take one step at a time and through this approach you will still complete everything, just with more calm and ease.
Have A Set Weekly Menu
While trying new recipes is fun and enriching, during a busy season of life opt to create a set menu of meals on a constant rotation to create ease. This not only saves energy by knowing how to cook them without recipes night after night, but also the grocery shopping becomes routine too with an understanding of what is needed by default without too much thought. The grocery shopping and subsequent meals become as routine as taking a shower in that you do not have to consciously think about it and therefore it conserves mental energy creating more ease as it pertains to meal planning.
Have At Least 2 Meals That Can Be Prepared in 15-ish Minutes or Less
Cooking a meal doesn’t have to be a time consuming pursuit every single night. Build into your weekly menu at least 2 meals that can be prepared in 15-ish minutes or less. When I say prepared, I mean the time it takes you to physically prepare the food, so for example one night a week I will bake a frozen lasagna and sauté a vegetable side. The lasagna will take about an hour to bake, but it only takes me 5 minutes or less to turn the oven on, open the lasagna and put it on a baking dish to bake. Then, after an hour I will sauté some veggies for a side and within ten minutes dinner is served (often with leftovers for lunch too). Having a few meals that are quick and take little effort is a great way to create more ease into everyday life without sacrificing the pleasure of a home cooked meal, even if it’s a semi-homemade meal.
Savor A Pre-Bedtime Ritual
There is a proper bedtime when it’s time to sleep, and then there is the pre-bedtime ritual before sleep. For me, it’s after I have done all of my nighttime skincare routines, changed into my pajamas, and then get into bed and either read a book or watch cozy videos on YouTube or Instagram. I know for some that the phone before bed keeps them from sleeping well, but that has never been an issue for me. The cozy videos actually put my mind at ease and helps relax my thoughts after a day of being “on” and productive. It’s like watching cooking shows and getting hungry, except in this case it comforts and makes me sleepy. Whatever puts you into a state of peacefulness, whether cozy videos, reading, meditating, yoga, or a sleep app, take some time before bed to indulge in a pre-bedtime ritual to give yourself some peace before sleep.
Sleep in on The Weekends (or whenever you can)
While the consensus for the hyper-productive is to wake up everyday at 5:00 a.m. everyday, I can say with all confidence that sleeping in is one way I create more ease into my life. Waking up when my body is ready provides a gentle start to the days that I am off of work. An interesting fact is that humans are actually meant to sleep more during the winter too. While this is still a balance as too much sleep is not good either, sleeping in can help our bodies recuperate from a week of waking early and being on the go. For me sleeping in is about 7-8 a.m., but this will look different to everyone. I will gently wake, brush my teeth, have a glass of water, make a coffee and get back into bed to read and stay cozy for a few more hours. Being able to indulge in the extra sleep creates ease in my weekend by providing the pleasure of not being on a timetable for a couple of days and letting my energy guide my actions for ease.
Stack and Attack Your Outside Errands
If you work Monday through Friday like I do, then inevitably you will need to run errands on the weekend. Some weekends all I really need to do is grocery shopping, then there are other weekends when I need to do several tasks such as going to Target for household items, put gasoline in the car, get a carwash, etc., when I have a weekend like this where I need to perform a few errands, I will always find a way to stack them in a way that creates ease. I will pick the place I go first by its ease of getting there and make the grocery run the last task. So for example, on a weekend where I may run several errands I will go to Target first (closest to my home), then I will stop at the gas station to fuel up the car and run through a car wash (find a service station that offers both), then I’ll do the grocery shopping last as this is my furthest destination. From there I can go straight home to put the groceries away quickly. Errands are inevitable, so instead of running one here, doing one there, just stack them up for one morning or afternoon, and make a plan to complete them in a way that creates more ease around them.
Turn Off The News
While there used to be a time where the news was simply meant to be a public service for people to inform them of the events of interest locally, nationally and somewhat globally, the news in this particular iteration no longer exists today. News is now a multi-billion dollar business that thrives on clicks and angry/scared viewership to keep them profitable. Most news nowadays is a blurb about an event that happened and then wrapped up in opinions and over-exaggerations to keep the audience engagement very high. Take back your peace and turn off the news. It will simply drain your energy and leave you with a heavy heart. All we ever have control of at any given moment is ourselves, so create more peace in your everyday life as you are not taking on the worries of the world that you cannot control anyways.
Create A Few Weekly Simple Pleasures That You Enjoy
The only thing more enjoyable than my morning coffee ritual is the looking forward to the morning coffee ritual which for me is an absolute simple pleasure. Having a few weekly simple pleasures that can be enjoyed creates an ease around everyday life by creating space to enjoy life’s simple pleasures. There are inevitably going to be tasks that we don’t necessarily look forward to such as waking up early, doing laundry, filing taxes, unloading the dishwasher, etc., but we can also create simple pleasures throughout the week that can help counterbalance those things that aren’t our favorite. Waking up early Wednesday through Friday to go into the office is not a favorite task of mine, but cozying into my cubicle, putting on some jazz music to listen to and enjoying that first cup of coffee is pure pleasure. Washing the dishes after dinner is a mundane task I have to complete nearly night, but making a pot of tea and enjoying a good book or magazine in the evening afterwards is a simple pleasure not to be missed. Sprinkle some simple pleasures throughout your days to create more ease around the less desired tasks that you need to do and you’ll find that those tasks become surprisingly more enjoyable too.
