4 Strategies To Cope With The Clocks Changing (Part 1)
Last week the clocks went back (boo!). Last year when this happened I really struggled - this cartoon pretty much sums it up!
So this year I have developed some strategies to ensure I don't go through that misery again.
Read on to learn my strategies (as well as specific tactics) or head to the comments section to share your tips and tricks. I'd love to hear from you!
Leave the house!
I think this is key, and this is especially important if you are still working from home. I am aiming to leave the house during the day (to maximise those minutes of Vitamin D time) and after work.
To achieve this I need to give myself reasons to leave the house so here are some ways I am tempting (forcing!) myself out in the evening:
- I've signed up to play netball once a week with Go Mammoth. They cover lots of activities around the UK so check them out if you're interested. I'll report back once I've actually started :-)
- I've paid for an evening course with City Academy and I am really enjoying this! Online courses were great during lockdown (and are still great to be fair) but an in-person course is a great excuse to get out the house, meet new people and spend less time in front of the television :-)
- I've stopped shopping online. Controversial! But shopping (even window shopping) is a another legitimate (and even fun) reason to step outside my front door. I started this by visiting Lisa Eldridge's pop up store in Covent Garden (which was lovely!) so it's probably going to be downhill from there but even needing new towels is a reason to visit M&S on Oxford Street.
I am aiming to use the following to tempt/force myself over my threshold during the day:
- Grocery shopping! Not very exciting, but if there is no food in the house (especially) lunch then I have to leave, because no one wants to be hungry. So I only buy what I need for that day or that meal which means I have to go back the next day. Sneaky!
- Coffee shop visiting ☕ This is not a daily event for me but it is a nice reason to take a quick break and 'get some rays'. Plus there are some really cute coffee shops in my area, even a park side kiosk which means I can get sunshine and greenery time at the same time.
- Walking to work. My workplace is quite flexible so if I decide to go into the office I try to do the 50 minute walk during my lunchbreak and spend the afternoon there. This gets me sunshine and quite a few steps towards my daily step count goal. Score, and double-score!
Double down on self-care
One of the reasons that I started SUPERSTREAK was because self-care was something I did not know how to do, and had to learn (quite late in life!). I didn't realise all those boring things like routines, and flossing, and drinking enough water were part of taking care of yourself.
So while it's tempting to let good habits slide when it gets cold and miserable I think the day after a holiday (Halloween, okay I'm reaching here :-) is also a good time to reset and recommit to good habits (in a way that works for you). So this is my plan:
- Take vitamin D. I've started taking my Vitamin D again. This is the one I use and it's very convenient as it's drops which I kind of prefer to other formats.
- Commit to a challenge for one month. There's lots of things you could do (like join Gretchen Rubin and Liz Craft's #Read21in21, participate in NaNoWriMo, or grow a moustache) but I've decided to do 100 squats a day. I'm hoping it will bring some structure to my November and perk my butt up 😂
- Use the extra hour. I've rejigged my schedule to make the most of the extra light in the morning (while it lasts 😭). I have shifted my evening yoga practice to the morning. Adriene has some great practices here, here and here that have helped ease this transition This way I see more blue sky and maximise my chances of experiencing this feeling:
Wow, it turns out I have quite a lot to say on this subject and this post is getting very long! I've actually got more to say so tune in for my next article which will cover my remaining two strategies.
Natalie x