Getting back on track

30 January 2023

I always love getting to work at the beginning of January. The year feels like a blank slate, my goals are set and I’m ready to establish new routines and take on new projects.

January 2023 started off well and then went off the rails. Mid-month I traveled to Walla Walla to settle my father’s estate and help my brother with some financial concerns stemming from his inheritance. That turned out to be about as fun as it sounds. I managed to pick up some sort of virus so didn’t feel or sleep well while I was there. By the time I flew home, I was feeling really lousy and my flight from Denver to St. Louis was plagued by mechanical difficulties. I finally walked in my door at 4 am.

I spent the rest of the week feeling physically and mentally exhausted. I did go to urgent care and I tested negative for COVID and the flu. I just had some sort of upper respiratory virus, I think.

Today is Monday and I feel human again. But I also feel like my glorious January, which started off so well, ended in a shambles.

But I’m ready to bounce back. Here’s how I think I’m going to approach it:

Start right where I left off with yoga. I was enjoying Yoga with Adriene’s 30-day journey but my head got so stuffed up that the idea of doing a downward-facing dog felt like torture. The last day I was able to do yoga was Day 22. So today I’ll try Day 23 and I’ll keep going each day until Day 30. (Then I’ll figure out another 30-day journey to try.)

Get right back to daily genealogy research. I have a 30 × 30 genealogy challenge going on at my genealogy blog, Organize Your Family History. I was going great guns with doing 30 minutes of daily research until I left for my trip. Then everything fell by the wayside. Instead of just calling it a bust, I’m going to try for daily research for the next 12 days, so I can reap the benefits of daily effort.

Let my bullet journal be my guide. Yesterday, I combed through all 115 pages I’ve written in so far this year in my bullet journal and plucked out the outstanding tasks, many of which I’d forgotten about. (Thank you, brain fog.) I put them in a list that I will work from the rest of this week. I took note of the absolute must-dos. Having my tasks in one place should help keep me focused.

Give myself grace. Guess what? There’s a wildcard this week that will have a great effect on my ability to feel back on track. It’s jury duty. I’ve never been selected for a jury and I don’t know what kind of time this year’s obligation will entail. But I’m going to cut myself a lot of slack. I’m going to try not to let having so much out of my control make me feel out of control. I’ll get the must-dos done and keep the other tasks close at hand for when I have snippets of time.

After feeling off the rails for a couple of weeks, I crave getting back on track. Getting back to daily routines and keeping a solid task list will be a huge help, I know. Wish me luck!

Photo by Lance Grandahl on Unsplash

Tagged with: goals, new year, routines, time management