3 Steps to Creating a Calm Fall Schedule

Yellow school buses filled with children busily heading toward their destinations, heralding the start of fall. But as the fall weather cools down, and the leaves begin to change color, do you wonder how you are going to cope with your busy schedule and added stress?

Does this sound all too familiar? Does your volunteer work, networking groups, children’s school activities, and social obligations get in the way of your work, home, and personal life? Does it feel like chaos is in charge and you don’t know how to get your life back in control?

Begin Getting In Control Today

People have a tendency to be superheroes with their time. They think they can have it all and do it all.

They join groups, go to meetings, attend religious services, go to all of their children’s events, run errands, work eight or more hours per day -- or are full-time caregivers along with their other responsibilities. And they wonder why at the day’s end they are exhausted.

Their exhaustion results from over committing and over-extending their personal mental, physical, emotional and spiritual energy. Such a daily exhaustive routine creates chaos and an unbalanced life filled with lots of stress.

If you feel this way too, the best thing to do is find ways to help yourself relax and regenerate energy; otherwise, you will find yourself and your stress levels spiraling out of control.

Three Steps to Help You Create Calm

Self-created chaos and stress can be totally controlled and even eliminated. By taking action now, you can not only calm your chaos and stress but prevent it. To get back in control of your world, try the following.

Start today! Make an “activities list” of all the anticipated events that begin again in the fall; be sure to include everything such as school buses on streets which slow down traffic causing stress and increasing your travel time and major stressors like an upcoming holiday such as Thanksgiving. Then rank each item with a number with one being the most important.

By ranking them in order of importance you can eliminate everything that does not provide you positive energy, will get in your way or is not mandatory. You will immediately feel more in control and have a roadmap to follow.

Take care of the important items first. Always take care of items one through three first. If you do not have time for the others at least you will have always completed the three most important things on your list. You will feel a sense of accomplishment, being in control and less stressed.

At the beginning of each day quickly make a short list of the most important things you must accomplish that day. Rank them in order of importance and again, focus on items one through three. Do those first. You will all but eliminate stress.

Create energy breaks. Whether at work or at home, take a 60-second energy break at least twice per day. Close your eyes and slowly take three long breaths. Draw the fresh air in through your nose and slowly blow it out through your mouth. You will feel refreshed. You can also mentally create a visual oasis you can retreat to on a moment’s notice for 30 to 60 seconds. Be sure your visual oasis is totally peaceful and quiet so you can be refreshed.

By planning ahead, you can live a calm balanced life which guarantees you will keep stress to a minimum and stay in control. When you are in control, your life is much calmer and for the most part, free of chaos. Your “activities list” becomes your roadmap for maintaining high energy levels while also avoiding exhaustion.

Don’t allow the fall season control you and dictate a hurried lifestyle filled with chaos and stress. Get in control now. Create your roadmap and follow it. When you choose to stay in control and not allow outside events and organizations dictate your every move, you will create a balanced, calm, and more peace-filled life.

© Pat Heydlauff, all rights reserved 2015
#creating #calm #control #spiritual #empower #balance