How to Stay Calm When Life Keeps Adding to Your To-Do List
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2020 has been a year of transformation, change, and adaptation for a lot of people. With life shifts and constant uncertainty in the air, people have had to overcome challenges they’ve never experienced before. Between juggling the risks of COVID-19, job losses or changes, unplanned moves, and the rise of grassroots movements for systemic change, we’ve all been handed many balls to juggle. And now, many of us are about to take on another role as we enter the new school year.
For most teachers, parents, and students, the school year is about to begin or has already begun. With teachers learning to teach from their homes while raising their own children, work-from-home parents deciding to home school their children while holding down a job, and essential workers trying to navigate the challenge of school or childcare for their children, on top of everything else we’ve been handling, it can feel overwhelming to keep so many balls in the air.
For those who have experience in multitasking or juggling many things at once, this upcoming transition may seem manageable. But for even the most experienced multitaskers, things can sometimes begin to pile up and burnout can start to set in. However, even though there is little we can do to change our current circumstances, there are things everyone can do in their day-to-day to help keep calm and avoid burning out.
Here are 5 Ways to Support Your Mental Well-being While Juggling Multiple Roles at Once:
Go With The Flow : Rather than fighting the inevitable changes you are experiencing, sometimes it’s best for your mental well-being to accept and embrace those changes. Admittedly, this is easier said than done. But it’s all about shifting your mindset. Taking some time to reflect inward can help you sort out your thoughts to better understand them, and can direct your focus to going with the flow rather than trying to force change or resist reality. Finding ways to be grateful for your current situation can also help you focus on the positives and spark inspiration, motivation and resilience to move forward. It can also help you stay calm in the face of future challenges.
Ask For Help : Now is not the time to try and make it on your own. Without outside help or even someone to simply talk to, this journey can become lonely and even more difficult to manage. With quarantine and physical distancing measures making people feel more isolated than usual, it’s important to maintain some social connection with others. Reach out to friends and family. A daily or weekly phone call or video chat can help. You can join an online community of people who are experiencing similar challenges. This can be good for emotional support as well as creative problem-solving. Another good option is to try teletherapy. With teletherapy so widely available and easily accessible, scheduling a therapy session is a simple and effective way to keep your mental health in check. It’s important to look after your own wellness so you can offer the support that’s needed in your new role as a parent, teacher, or worker. (For more information on teletherapy, click here).
Set Boundaries at Home : Whatever your current situation at home or at work looks like, setting healthy boundaries is an important step to maintaining your sanity and peace of mind. Everyone’s boundaries may be different, which is why it’s important to express yours with yourself and those around you. There are different types of boundaries you may have to set, including: physical, mental, social, and emotional. Some of these boundaries can look like:
Setting up a time schedule for school work and career work
Separating family time from teaching or learning time
Letting your boss know that you’re homeschooling and scheduling work tasks and phone calls around those hours
Making time for yourself to relax and expressing those needs to your family
Setting and enforcing safety measures for yourself, your family, and the other people you and your child come into contact with
Give Yourself Permission to Take a Break : Taking a break and giving yourself time to relax can seem counterproductive when you’re juggling so many tasks. It can be easy to convince yourself that you don’t have the time. However, the reality is that taking regular breaks can help improve your productivity and raise the bar for how much you can handle. Our brains and bodies need down time to rest and recuperate. So working non-stop or juggling too many things at once can wear you down over time, negatively affect your productivity and your mood, and eventually lead to burnout. So be sure to take time out of your day to go for a walk in nature, read a book, take a bath, meditate, or simply sit around and do nothing for a little while. Your mind and body will thank you.
Work Smarter, Not Harder : This is something that I tell my life coaching clients all the time. Living in a culture that is competitive and success driven can lead people to form habits around the belief that you need to work hard to be successful. The truth is that this mentality can run us down, especially when learning to take on new challenges and life responsibilities. One of the keys to keeping calm and successfully juggling many balls at once is to figure out ways to work smarter. Work-life balance is difficult to attain these days, but is not impossible. Brainstorm ways to bring more efficiency into your life and build up your resilience. Are there areas in your busy life where you can cut down on time? Sometimes that means doing things well enough rather than trying to be perfect. Are there things you can be doing that naturally work well for you, rather than trying to fit yourself into the perfect idea of what you think you should be doing? Are there systems you can put in place that will help you take care of yourself without missing work or school? These are just a few of the self-reflective questions you can ask in learning how to better manage your responsibilities.
Finally, as you enter this new transition, or any transition in the future where you are taking on multiple roles or duties, think back on other moments in your life when you overcame a similar challenge. While this current point in your life might feel like a new challenge, there’s a chance you’ve been in a similar position before. Are there any lessons you can draw from that experience to provide inspiration and fuel your resilience?
Remember, you are only human and you are bound to make mistakes. Especially when you’re learning something new, and especially when you’re attempting to juggle everything at once. You’ve already been through so much during this pandemic, but try not to let that discourage you. Rather, use that experience to help move you forward and stay calm, knowing that you’ve got this!