Turn on suggestions
Auto-suggest helps you quickly narrow down your search results by suggesting possible matches as you type.
Showing results for
There have been endless stories about how people have coped with the past year by starting to bake their own bread or starting their own vegetable garden - both things that I have done and enjoyed greatly. But we were curious about the new habits that haven’t been talked about, so here are some of the habits the Community team has picked up and how they are going.
++++++
I started a lot of habits during the last year, and I’m definitely not proud of all of them, like how much I spend on food delivery now. But, adjusting my daily exercise habit to match the circumstances of the pandemic was a huge game changer when it came to my mental health and wellbeing.
I belonged to a CrossFit gym pre-pandemic. When everything shut down they transitioned to Zoom classes and loaned out equipment, so it was pretty easy to keep going without missing too much of a beat. It wasn’t QUITE the same, but it was enough to keep me strong and moving.
Unfortunately, as restrictions eased, the gym re-opened and Zoom classes stopped, but I wasn’t quite comfortable heading back into a small, sweaty room with a lot of people just yet. I’m still not.
So, there were a few months in there where I floundered a bit. I didn’t enjoy doing aerobics in my living room, the weather wasn’t always nice enough to go for a walk or run outside. Despite being a self-proclaimed “fitness freak” before quarantine, I let exercise fall by the wayside completely for a good long while.
Finally, as I started realizing that I wasn’t feeling myself, physically or mentally, I knew that I had to get back to it somehow. I finally sprung for some fitness equipment in the garage and started doing simple workouts in there whenever I could.
Even so, without the dedicated space (a gym) for fitness time, I found it tough to motivate myself to get out there as often as I wanted. So, I recommitted to something I knew I had the willpower capacity for: Do something to move my body every day.
It’s definitely not “fitness freak” level stuff. Sometimes it’s an easy walk around the neighborhood. Sometimes it’s some yoga on YouTube. Then, there’s definitely some really good days when I get out there and pick up my barbell. Either way, I’m doing what I can with the capacity I have right now. I’m looking forward to getting back to my “normal” routine, but until I can, I’m giving myself the space to show up for my exercise routine in whatever way I can handle. It’s made all the difference.
++++++
@CoreyDenis
(Coming soon)
++++++
As I mentioned above, I was definitely bitten by the baking and gardening bug, but I think the habits I have found the most valuable to me are ones that I use to mark the beginning and end of my days. I absolutely struggled with a work-life balance when we switched to working from home over a year ago. I worked entirely too much for several months, answering Slack messages from our teams overseas in the middle of the night and often putting in 10-11 hour workdays. There was no separation between work and home.
Eventually, I realized that I couldn’t keep doing it. And it took me a while, but I finally found the habits that helped me get back to something much more healthy, and oddly enough I found that it helped my productivity as well.
The first habit is my morning routine. I usually wake up early and I started the habit of making my coffee and enjoying it out on the back porch while I scrolled through my phone. But I realized that looking at my phone often devolved into doomscrolling Reddit and Twitter and instead of relaxing, I was just stressing myself out before I even started work. So I made the decision to eliminate screens of any kind until I start my workday.
Now, instead of turning on the coffee pot and grabbing my phone, I take the time to make one perfect cup of pour-over coffee while I sit on my back porch watching the sun rise. It’s quiet and almost meditative, and it lets me enjoy the morning and slowly ready myself for the day.
Similarly, I went through a few adaptations before I found the corresponding ending of my workday habit to help me transition to the not working section of the day. I used to have a 35-45 min commute to work, and going home at the end of the day would be closer to an hour with all the traffic. I filled the time by listening to podcasts and audiobooks. And I realized that I missed that time precisely because it did allow me to let go of the work thoughts and plans and frustrations - by the time I got home I was ready to relax and enjoy my time.
At first, I tried listening to podcasts, but I do that sometimes when I am working on projects that don’t require a lot of active thinking (usually when I’m working in Excel, lol), so it didn’t really give me the same effect. But, one night I decided to do some chores around the house and I put on a new audiobook a friend had gifted me; and there was the transition I had been missing. I got pulled into the story I was listening to, and when I finished my chores, I realized I had that same looking forward to relaxing feeling that I had been missing. I don’t always do chores, sometimes I knit or go work out in the backyard, but it's always listening to a book and moving my body in some gentle way. Again, no computer, tv, or phone, just half an hour or so to give my mind time to let go of the work day.
++++++
So tell us, have you started a new habit in the past year? How is it going?
