Building a House in a Tornado

Hi friends! Wanna know something I learned this week?

It’s the importance of putting the practice in while things are going good, for when things get bad.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy 🍋

I find journaling easy when I’m in the dumps.

When it’s clear as day that I’m in a bad way, I have plenty to say. The words flow.

And it helps! I give time and space to listen to my thoughts and feelings, I make sure I’m not ignoring anything my brain is trying to tell me, and then I reflect on how I’d like to think and feel moving forward. I evaluate, reflect and reset.

I tend to spend a handful of days being very mindful and compassionate to myself (and to others). I regain patience and focus and motivation. I get back to a (still very new) healthy and happy state of mind. I get back to doing what I want to do.

Difficult difficult lemon difficult 🍋

I find journaling hard when I’m back on track.

But then I stop journaling. It becomes very mehhh. I pick up the notebook, I think ‘I have no idea what to write’ and I put the notebook back down and pick up my ipad instead.

So journaling never quite becomes a routine for me, even though I really want it to, because the benefits are clear. It helps me feel more calm, in control and confident. It helps me gain focus and motivation. It helps me check my progress and keep improving.

Most importantly it helps me stay on track. It helps me keep on the lookout for any danger spots that might put me at risk of derailing, so I’m ready to plan ahead.

Train in fair weather 🌞

There are 2 big reasons I’ve been failing to make journaling a routine, that I’ve noticed.

I’ve been relying on doing it in the bad times to try and establish a routine.

But when things are going badly, all we can do is react. There’s no capacity for planning. There’s no point trying to build a house in the middle of a tornado! (And in the aftermath, we just need a break!) Derp.

Decisions make things hard. Hard means things don’t get done.

When there’s something wrong with me and I know it, the writing comes easy. Why? Because my brain is shouting at me and all I need to do is turn on the tap.

When things are ok, I have to think about what I want and what I want to write. It feels hard. It’s like the tap is clogged up and it’s hard to get the flow going.

A cunning plan 🦊

So, here’s what I am going to do about it:

I’m going to use this time - when things are going ok - to prioritize building a routine.

How?

By getting rid of the decisions, so it becomes easy. Here’s my plan to kick things off:

1. I pick a notebook that’s just for journaling (and put it on top of my ipad by my bed).

2. I write ‘Why do I want to journal?’ at the top of the first page.

3. I set a daily reminder on my phone to open the notebook when I get into bed (If the reminder goes off before I’m in bed, I’ll move it to a time that makes sense).

4. When I open the notebook, I answer that question and see what happens.

5. Before I set the notebook down, I open up a new page and write that single question again, for the next day.

I’ll let you know how I managed to mess it up next week, or something. Sorry you didn’t get a story this week!

But was this useful?

Thanks for stopping by 🌝

I’ll be back next monday with some more baked brains.

In the meantime, here is…