We are in the process of moving! "We" meaning S&P, "we" representing our little family, and "we" refers to our tiny homeschool. After ten moves (from ten different states), this will be our first owned house. I am beyond excited, but this process has been BY FAR more work than moving into an apartment. I've experienced all the feelings. In fact, due to feeling overwhelmed, on Tuesday evening, I shut off my phone at 10:00 pm and didn't touch technology until Thursday morning. Wednesday, I fasted from technology to sort through all of my feelings, thoughts, and emotions.
My mood shifted once my grandmother's furniture, and keepsakes came to the house (on Wednesday). The nostalgia, the memories, and the symbolism changed my entire energy and gave me a vision. Thank God I was able to process it while it was happening. My mom also graciously packed a few of my childhood journals, and guess what I found? I was obsessed with creating checklists, rhythms, daily to-dos, even in middle school. To be fair, many journal entries bubbled over with deep despair (over not having stuck to the plan)- hence, the organizational therapist.
Realizing how engrained my lists were made me giggle with glee. There's something about being deeply grounded in my most genuine self that breaks all the chains. So while we are at it: my morning and evening rhythm has shifted so much this fall. All of the changes have given me hibernation vibes, and so I tend to sleep in later. Right now, I am flowing off of checklists. I will share a few below. I also use lists for my boys. I will share all of these resources with subscribers as soon as there's space (time-wise).
Creating checklists reduces decision fatigue, mistakes, and stress while increases efficiency, discipline, and productivity.
My Morning & Evening Checklist
The fun part of checklists is that it's not an order or a strict time block, it's just the things that need to happen that day. Now, y'all know I am a fan of The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande. He discusses a good vs a bad checklist. It's such a transcendent read. To use his language below is a Do: Confirm checklist. There are two different kinds of checklists. The Read: Do checklist is one where the person uses the list as they complete tasks. The Do: Confirm is running off of memory and then confirming the steps are done.
An Early Evening to Night routine:
Evening walk or stretch
Dinner cooked
Boys in bed
Plan out the next day
Clothes picked out
Bags packed.
Phone left out of the bedroom
Hot shower or bath to candlelight
Hair wrapped
Lotion on
Cuticles & feet with vaseline
PJS on
One show
Lights out
Sleep
We have a new Morning routine.
Wake up
Drink water
Make our bed
IMMEDIATELY get ready
Read the Word
Journal
Write
Research & Plan
Well, y'all, I have more unpacking, organizing, and "designing" to do. I hope you are doing well.
Shalom, Friends.
Shelby