Just do these 4 things every single day, no matter what, and you’ll be golden.
1. Make your Bed.
Roll out of bed then turn back around. Smooth out the sheets, straighten out the comforter, throw the pillows back in place (anyone else have too many/you can never have too many, throw pillows?) and voila!, you’ve got a presentable room in less than 30 seconds and you already feel a little bit more put together. I do it every morning, and it is a perfect way for my OCD to be a little more satisfied for the day.
2. Give at least 5 minutes to the Big Guy upstairs.
I cannot tell you how off my day is when I do not take time to just sit with The Lord in the morning. This time can either look like rolling out of bed and landing on my knees just to talk with Him, or actually sitting down with my bowl of wheat thins and reading my devotion (Shereadstruth is phenomenal ladies, check them out). In no way am I perfect in this- I actually spent so much time getting ready yesterday that I had no time to read my devotion and man was I off that day. Finding time to rest in The Lord fills me more than anything else, so when I skip that step in my day, I am done for. Grab your bible, memorize a verse, talk with Him on your way to work- however you do it, just make time for Him and you’ll day will be so much better. I promise.
3. Make a list, but a make it a short one.
I love lists, but I absolutely stink at them. I make lists so that I don’t forget what I need to get done, but man do I get ahead of myself when I write things down. I get too excited, remembering that I need to do this and that and oh yeah, that too, and then before I know it my list is 20 reminders long. And the worst part is I can only accomplish maybe 3 of those 20 things in one day, so then I feel like I wasted my day on nothing. But let me tell ya: getting three things done in one day is actually pretty darn good. So make a list of what you want to do that day. Don’t overload yourself. Just right 3-4 things to get done that day and get them done. I’ve successfully done this once in my life and the feeling of actually being able to cross off everything was amazing. So make a list, but make it a short one.
4. Take a few deep breaths and think good thoughts.
When you have dealt with anxiety like I have, you know that when you’re taking deep breaths it’s actually a bad thing, not a good thing. But shoutout to my awesome Nana who sent me a great article about breathing (sounds weird, right?), but it actually was exactly what I needed to hear. The article talked about how our hearts and the network of neurons or nerve cells within the heart increase connections with our learning or frequent use of activities/things. As we learn things, our body makes connections, making that certain task, feeling or memory easier to access. If you have ever felt anxious, stressed, worried, or anything like that, I bet you can say you have had chest/heart pains before? Well I know I have, and this article pointed out that if we constantly “feel” emotions in our chest region, does the body not “learn” to get more efficient at feeling them? This meaning that when doing breathing exercises or just simply taking deep breaths, we should focus on feeling emotions such as joy, peace or love to increase the neuron connections of those emotions rather than the negative ones that we so often fell when in need of a deep breath. THIS WORKS. It sounds so simple and you may be thinking that “”heck, you think positive stuff all the time,” but if you really think about it, we actually focus on the negative feelings we are having when we take a deep breath, so why not inhale for 5 seconds and exhale for 10 while thinking positive thoughts and see where that leads us?
Okay, I may only do one and 3/4s of these, but hey we all have to work towards something, right?
If this sounds great to you but it already seems like an overload, try to focus on one thing at a time. Short lists, rememeber?
Oh, and here’s a hint: start with the Jesus time- you may be surprised where that takes you.
See you soon,
Stephanie Lynn
Need some help with short lists? Click here for a great template for daily/weekly check-off lists!
gwenn | lynn 