My five steps of getting out of the slump

I have a confession. I started with That Goal for this year…and for this blog.

To write more and do more content here I told myself.

I told myself that I will not let this virus to rule and disrupt my life. But as much as I want to be In a bubble and continue as if everything can be normal, but it isn’t. Nothing is normal. The new normal is not the normal we used to know.

Amid these endless lockdowns and uncoordinated community restrictions, unclear vaccination guidelines and schedules, one can heave a sigh of sadness. We have to survive. And surviving take a whole lot of effort.  There are days that I just want to sleep and just do nothing, think of nothing. And then feel guilty after for not being productive.

I’ve been working as early as my elementary days, I have to work for my baon, and had to work my way out of university. So,  it’s been a struggle for me always to do nothing. But I also know that the work that I do is not the 100% I’ve been giving myself into. I started a passion project and I stopped midway.

That guilt gnaws. I know I was in a slump.

I know I’m not the only one who feels it but I don’t want this to continue.

So here’s my 5 steps of getting out that slump.

1. I have to accept that I am in a slump and it is okay. We are all struggling these days so beating ourselves and comparing ourselves with others will only be detrimental for our mental health. Do not beat yourself up for not giving your 100% energy to it outright.
2. Break down your activity. Start small. Do something that can be done in 1-5 minutes. The key is to have a sense of accomplishment of something being done.  I list down the things to be done for the day (the most urgent ones) and check it. And then I will list other things that can be done later or the next day, so I will know what can be accomplished in a day. Having a lot of things on your mind to be accomplished can be too overwhelming. The list will check your expectation for the day.
3. Be active to release endorphins! I try to keep up with my previous routine of walking, jogging, jumprope and biking. There were times when I was so lazy to get out of bed and it felt like torture. So, I just started dancing with BTS and Blackpink. We must keep the endorphins, those hormones to increase our feeling of well-being flowing. Yoga online was my company during my precautionary 14-day quarantine. We must make exercise a joyful activity, not a physical torture.
4. Take a shower even when you are working at home. Yes, it’s easy to succumb to working in our pajamas but this also adds up to the slack. Since we have closed the boundaries of home and work, we tend to forget to have a break. Days are a blur now. So before having that unlimited zoom meetings, take a shower, wear your office dress/ blazer and put own a lipstick to signal your brain that you’re working. And learn to put a time off, say 6PM onwards no more work-related calls unless it’s an emergency.
5. Limit app use in your phone. Yes, it is so easy these days to be sucked in the whirlpool of social media apps in our phones while we’re in our bed, doing dumbing scrolling and before you notice, hours and hours have passed. Phones are our new dopamine and we have to be intentional with our usage. While it connects us, we also have to be aware of its control. It is us, who controls its usage, not the other way around. And just by not touching my phone after the alarm, I’m able to do more in the morning.  Do some stretching, water and talk to my plants, and clean my bike and that gives me a sense of accomplishment!

Whenever you lost and disoriented as much I was, try to look for small joyful moments and do things you can control to get back on track.

Give yourself time. And when you’re at it, try to remember your WHY. Why are you doing what you are doing?

That Why will remind you why you started. And in the midst of chaos, that WHY might have been covered up or it’s not that too compelling at the moment.

Your Why is the Motivation and Discipline to do it, everyday, despite the difficulty will take you back on track.

You got this!