Steer in to the Skid.
If you read my last blog post (on Tuesday instead of Sunday), you probably realized that the long weekend definitely threw off my schedule. It disrupted my exercise routine, my eating habits, my work schedule—every part of my routine. While I had an amazing time, it’s taking me a while to recover.
This experience made me realize that while it's important to break the routine now and then, there are also things that need to be non-negotiable. For me, the non-negotiables are sleep, diet, and movement. I can give myself flexible parameters around them so they’re not rigid, but they still remain essential.
For example, I might allow myself a small cup of ice cream after dinner, not the large one with caramel sauce, peanuts, and whipped cream (trust me, I could go there. If it were an isolated indulgence, I might allow it. But not after a weekend full of junk food and eating out). Or I might aim to go to bed between 10–11 p.m. and wake between 6–7 a.m. Getting 7–9 hours of sleep is crucial. If you're not getting at least 7 hours, I can help you with that.
What was the impact of not taking care of my physical health over the weekend?
It definitely affected my mental and emotional health. All week, I felt a little defeated. I got really down on myself, thinking that my grief has held me back from doing all the things I dream of. I took a walk down the “Should-have, Would-have, Could-have” path.
Normally, I can stop myself from going down that road. But the combination of excess sugar, calories, and a disrupted routine threw off my balance. It was hard to fight that downward spiral. So, just like when a car starts to skid and you steer into the skid to regain control, that’s exactly what I did. I took time to acknowledge and accept what was happening.
Once I admitted to myself that this feeling of defeat was actually a reflection of my comfort with inertia, the tendency of an object to resist change (an object at rest stays at rest, and one in motion stays in motion unless acted on by another force), I was able to lean into it in order to regain control.
All I needed to do was change the pattern. It’s important for me to stay in motion. Not to keep myself overly busy all the time—just not to allow myself to come to a complete stop.
Some people are agile and can sprint from a dead stop, like those cars that go from 0 to 60 in two seconds. That’s just not me. I build up speed gradually. So for me, it's critical to get up to speed and maintain it. It takes more energy to go from 0 to 60 than it does to stay at 60 mph once you’re already there.