Cut Yourself Some Slack

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Hi Friends!

I’ve been following some organizers on social media, along with some other small business owners. Many of them have been posting things saying, “You might as well make this time productive and get your house organized!” The professional groups I’m part of are saying to “create several months of social media content, update your portfolio, join us in a Zoom meeting to figure out how to pivot and make this time work for your business.” I respect their energy and initiative. But you know what? I don’t want to do any of that. 

Kelsey sent me a tweet the other day by Mitch Goldstein that said,

“Ya know, I really hate to be this blunt, but if you are not taking all this free time to rework your portfolio or start a new personal project and are just sitting around then YOU ARE A HUMAN BEING TRYING TO DEAL WITH A GLOBAL CRISIS SO THAT’S JUST FINE DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT.”

Friends, a global pandemic makes you weary. It can sap your energy and desire to do more than is absolutely necessary. And that is perfectly OK. This is a great time to do whatever you need to do, or NOT DO, to get through this. This is actually my first day at home with nothing on my agenda. I had a workshop scheduled, but it’s been postponed, so I don’t know what it’s been like for those of you who have been staying home for weeks. I’m sure it’s not easy. So adding the pressure of getting your home organized on top of everything else seems unreasonable to me. Especially when you add things like kids unexpectedly home from school, work-from-home challenges, and TP shortages to the mix. 

Things are different around here too. Jeff and Kelsey (up in Chicago) are working from home. Carly has been “paused,” because she works in food service. My upcoming seminars have been postponed. We’re finding our rhythm, and what I’m finding out is that:

This is a great time to cut yourself some slack. You’re doing the best you can. And cut others some slack too. They’re doing the best they can. We are all handling this differently. Let’s just try to be kind to one another.

Here’s what I’m doing:

  • Still going to work at Trader Joe’s for the time being (some of you know I’m a sign artist at the TJ’s in Little Rock as well as a KonMari Consultant). We’re adapting to rapid changes there, but I just try to put my head down and do my work. Here’s something fun I made last week:

 
Trader joe’s sign

Trader joe’s sign

 

  • Texting the members of my church community group to keep in touch

  • Calling my mom to nag her to stay home

  • Taking naps

  • Offering to get groceries for friends who are immunosuppressed

  • Getting at least 30 minutes of exercise every day, outside if possible (thank you Apple Watch for the reminders)

  • Reading, playing games, doing puzzles, and watching movies with my family

  • We’re still keeping our home tidy, because that reduces stress for all of us. And if it stops raining we might start working in the yard

Here are some things I’m not doing:

  • Getting my taxes in order

  • Creating months of social media content

  • Creating online classes

  • Being on social media a lot

  • Reading depressing articles

If you want to do something encouraging, join my friend Wendy of TakeUpYourMat for live Holy Yoga classes a couple times a week. Or tune in to RedeemerLR.org on Sundays at 10 for worship. (The sermon from two weeks ago has a great handwashing video in it.) And if you get bored, you can find the 10 toilet paper rolls hidden in this illustration done by my friend Sarah Waymire:

If exercising is a stress-reliever for you, there are tons of gyms doing online classes for free.

If drawing or painting is relaxing, go for it.

If all you want to do is lay on the couch and binge-watch shows, do it.

If social media makes you anxious, avoid it.

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Friend, take care of yourself during this time. We’ll get through this. Newsweek reported yesterday that over 100,000 people have recovered from coronavirus. Don’t lose hope. We may all have bad haircuts and have gained a couple pounds by the end of this, but we’ll get through it.

If you do want to get organized and want some help, email me and I’ll do my best to give you some tips - no cost. Or go back and read our previous blogs that explain the KonMari Method step-by-step.

Praying for all of you!

Sue

Sue Fehlberg is Arkansas’ 1st Certified KonMari Consultant