Ahh Sunday. Prep day… Rest day… Game day… whatever it is for you, Enjoy It! For me, Sundays are my kick-it-into-gear day: this is where I meal prep, schedule prep, meeting prep, & self-prep. I truly go through my entire house, refrigerator, and “chakra house” to prepare myself for the week.
I wasn’t always like this though. I spent a good majority of my life living hour to hour. I was very much a reactive person rather than a prepared person. I got so good at it, that I prepared for the unknowns. But this wasn’t so great because that just meant that I was spending the entire day waiting for something to blow up in my face. Now, since we cannot plan every moment of our lives, we can at least try to take control of those scattered moments. This was something that I really needed to get a handle on since stress was a major episode in my everyday life that exacerbated my psoriatic reactions.
For me, being in a clean environment is critical. Not only am I allergic to dust and grime, but clutter truly restrains me. It hinders my mental and physical productivity. I simply become too overwhelmed with EVERYTHING in front of me that I can’t take the 1st step to “just cleaning up”. So I have started making sure that everything has a “place to live”. This goes for everything in my life:
- My ironing board lives in the laundry closet;
- My jewelry lives in the jewelry box;
- My shoes live on the shoe rack;
- My bad thoughts live only for a moment then go onto my notepad and stays only there;
- My pain lives in my knees;
- And so on …
I say it so often that my soon to be stepdaughter has started telling her dad to put his shoes where they live once he gets home! HaHaHa! Yes, that does make me happy.
Same goes for my eating. Since I am the reigning Iron Chef Champion (well … in my kitchen anyways) I have to not only eat well, but eat clean. If you have psoriatic arthritis, you know that doing this for every meal and every day is almost impossible. Living with chronic illness really makes you a “preparer” (if that’s a real word even?!). You always have to be prepared to be debilitated completely. So I figure that if God-willing, I am ok on Sunday’s then I can prepare all of the components of my meals that day. This makes for a quick and effortless way to cook during the week. So I have to go through my fridge and the pantry, sort through all of the ingredients, and plan away. Actually, I have some really cool recipes to share with y’all this week. I have to start my detox/elimination diet TOMORROW (the dreaded Monday) so I have had to plan out some key meals to ensure success.
On a deeper level, I have gone to extreme measures to plan out my schedule which really helps me emotionally.
Ahhhh Yeah .. that’s my schedule… oooon an Excel spreadsheet… aaaand yes, it’s planned out for the year. I know it’s a bit intense, but it truly does keep my mind free of clutter and has reduced my anxiety tremendously. The set up was a little overwhelming, but nothing a cut and paste function couldn’t fix. I highly recommend keeping a calendar for yourself. Include yoga sessions, meditation sessions, and meal prep times. Allow yourself to see what a snapshot of your life looks like (on paper). Visualize yourself keeping this schedule. Obviously, you don’t HAVE to create an Excel spreadsheet, but I find it important to jot things down. I feel that in doing this, you can free your thoughts and let your mind rest in knowing that you can let go (mentally).
So get to it! Clean up your space; clean out your fridge; and clean up your schedule. Do these things so that you have the clarity to emotionally enjoy your life and your surroundings more freely.
LIVING YOUR FULLEST LIFE 