There is big waiting mode energy in the air this week as we anticipate two very important test results for Taj’s long term health care plan. The kicker? We’ll be waiting for one result until March 20th. And the other until maybe March 30th or mid-April. I bounced back and forth between themes of surrender and themes of control at the beginning of the week.
Surrender. Feel it all. Let it wash over you.
Focus on what you can control. Discipline. Commitment.
Then, I remembered this podcast episode that my dear friend Natalie and I recorded back in 2019 about rhythm and routine. Natalie quotes Gretchen Rubin’s idea of daily habit building in the episode and it felt like the exact energy I needed to embody in a sea of uncertainty — “It’s easier to do something everyday than it is to do something once and awhile.”
From the moment I started the podcast I knew that I wanted to interview Natalie. Her ability to build habits into daily-muscle-memory-no-brainers with a soft but disciplined self-accountability is beautiful to me. Not because she’s always moving towards some big clear deadline, but simply because she wants to commit to feeling good. To doing things that she enjoys.
“It’s like pushing me to do something that I actually love. Isn’t that weird? How sometimes it’s hardest to do the things that you enjoy and are good for you but you drag your feet so much actually doing it? So I think setting this Universal Rule for myself took it out of decision point for me. It was no longer a decision I had to make everyday. It was something that was already decided.” - Episode 7 of The Mental Wealth & Wellness Podcast
This is the medicine I am swimming in this week. Doing the things that I know work and I know make me feel better, every day. With the added promise of keeping it simple. My downfall can often be going a little too hard and creating a little too much pressure that I become resistant to it. Can you relate?
When I first drafted my “Do It Everyday” list at the beginning of the week it was 7+ things. Unrealistic for me at this moment. Especially considering I am still unpacking our hospital bags, two weeks later.
I narrowed it down to my top three e-s for the week:
Early morning wake up & morning routine
Eat three meals a day
Endorphins
The first two on the list are things that I have been doing since we got home and are at the point of feeling like muscle memory. Although it may not sound revolutionary, three meals a day (and two of them being before 2 pm) is a very big deal in this AuDHD household. Our relationship to food and meal times has never been this consistent. Getting reacquainted with breakfast? No headaches from forgetting to eat? Noticing I’m much nicer without hanger? Win! Win! Win!
The new addition of getting my endorphins pumping involves me adding some of my favorite Grow With Jo at home workouts to my daily movement routine. I’ve been leaning on walks since getting home, I can’t get enough fresh air and our neighborhood always help me feel grounded and peaceful. But this week I need a little more than peace, I need to sweat and feel my heart race and punch the air.
Doing this is giving that extra energy that’s floating around somewhere to flow. It’s also helping me feel strong and flexible — almost like I’m in training for the adventures we casted into our future while in the hospital.
I’ll be ready.
With Love,
Jenna
P.S. Will you tell me what intentions and energy are carrying you through your week? Or would you like to make a little list of the top three things you know make you feel really good every day? Let me know in the comments :)
Starting to see little buds poke up through the soil and a couple of flowers on the brink of blooming!
The Stone Creek Coffee I’m brewing every morning at home (thanks Rachel!!)
More time inside of the Akashic Records <3
Taj and I had a little at home date night last night! We budgeted out sodium for a splurge on take-out for the first time since being home! While I went out to pick up the food Taj set the scene with mood lighting and incense and queued up Jennifer Lopez’s new movie This Is Me…Now: A Love Story . It was SO good and I woke up with some of the music stuck in my head! Highly recommend :)
We saw my Dad last weekend and he gifted us a full body grounding mat to support Taj’s healing! We’ve both been taking our turns doing daily sessions — you can choose different frequencies to promote different types of healing while setting the heat to your desired temperature. It’s heavenly and has literally been changing my sleep the past couple of nights!
I’ve recently gotten into floral arranging videos on YouTube because it’s just so satisfying to watch and makes me so happy :)