I’m celebrating the milestone of a 1 year streak of daily wellness practices! 🎉
March 15, 2020 was the beginning of a shift. That day, I went from *sometimes* getting up to exercise to a DAILY wellness practice of yoga, meditation and journaling. It started when COVID cancelled my commute to all the schools I usually work in. This change at work left me with “more time” in the morning. I figured it was easy enough to use my new-found time to start a more consistent morning wellness routine.
One day led to the next and it soon became a non-negotiable part of my day. Here I am a whole year later.
3 things I’ve learned:
⭐️ Something is better than nothing: even if it’s 10 minutes of yoga, 1 minute of meditation and jotting down 3 things I’m grateful for, it keeps me on track for a daily routine.
⭐️ Taking care of myself every day in this way has helped me to cope with the strange rollercoaster of challenges this pandemic has presented.
⭐️ Start small: a daily routine once seemed impossible to me, but by starting slowly with a few practices each week, I’ve built up to this and it feels sustainable now.
Wellness time is well-invested time
Undoubtedly, my daily commitment to wellness has allowed me to better cope with the last year of pandemic life. I normally keep a busy schedule filled with people I love, organizations I care about and work I enjoy. I love to travel. I love socializing. I had no idea when I started my daily wellness commitment back in March 2020 that I’d be facing A YEAR of cancelled events, restrictions on socializing, changes to the way we teach, travel restrictions and more…
I’m so glad I started because I think the wellness practices I’ve engaged in have made it possible for me to better handle everything that has been thrown at us in the last year. I definitely still have my meltdowns and days of longing for “normal” life, but generally, I am okay. I can show up for my colleagues and the students I work for. I am present with my friends and family when I can connect with them. I am remaining optimistic and I’m mentally and physically well, considering the circumstances.
Making time for my wellness practices has paid off. Even when it feels like I “don’t have time”, I know that investing time in my well-being helps me be healthier and more efficient. And if it gets me through this pandemic with my physical and mental health (relatively) intact, it is 100% worth it.
Creating my own “Atomic Habits”
The teachings from James Clear’s book Atomic Habits helped me better understand the science of habit building and his tips helped me develop a sustainable habit. Things that resonated from his book included:
It’s better to do a little bit than skip it altogether. In my case, this means: it’s better to do a 10 minute yoga practice than skip it altogether and break the streak (thus, losing my momentum).
Small changes add up. By the time I adopted a daily routine it was a fairly small shift from a goal of doing yoga 5 days a week to doing yoga every day. However, that’s not really where it started. It started when I first tried out yoga and went to one private yoga class every week with Devon. Then, when I liked how yoga supported my physical and mental wellness, I started practicing at home too. Eventually, I started setting goals of hitting my mat twice per week, then to complete a 30 day challenge, then eventually I was aiming to practice yoga 5 days per week. There are about a 1000 small shifts that led me from never doing yoga (in December 2014) to doing yoga every day from March 2020-March 2021. Don’t underestimate the power of starting. Even if you do something “small” or infrequently… it might just lead to great rewards.
Tracking is essential. Keeping track of your “streak” is motivating and can be super simple. I just used a calendar and added checkmarks for every day I completed my yoga practice. Eventually, I started using an M to track meditation and J to track journaling to show all 3 practices.
Atomic Habits is our April book club pick, so plan to join us for great reading and discussion starting April 19th. Get on the waitlist here to be notified when registration opens!
It’s better to do less than you hoped than nothing at all.
– James Clear
So what?
Please know it’s okay to make time for yourself. (I’m sure glad I have!) Please know that starting small with a little bit of wellness time is better than not starting at all. Remember that a little bit each day adds up. Find a wellness practice you enjoy and start there. It’s essential that we take care of ourselves in order to show up for our students, our friends & family and our communities. If you’re not sure where to start, try the 3 wellness practices included in our free Teacher Wellness Toolkit or try out our week-long Spring into Wellness challenge with 7 recorded wellness practices!
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