[Enough Is Enough] Establishing Daily Minimum Requirements

I had a mentally challenging day yesterday. It was a pretty similar to all the rest of my SAHM-countryside-isolation days, but I achieved far less than on any other day. On the outside, it may not look like it – my baby got all his meals, I played with him, went outside, managed to publish a post and a #momtip – my new daily content…

However, there were still these little things (or big things that I couldn’t even afford to start) that I didn’t do, like replying to all the messages I wanted to, writing a book, washing my hair…

I was pretty unhappy with how my day was going.

It resulted in me crying because Filip told me, earlier yesterday, that he bought Nutella for the pancakes that evening for dinner. I was mad and told him we’re not eating sugar and how he’s dooming us with calories and non-essential food. Then I secretly spent all day imagining all that chocolate and how great pancakes were going to be. Dinner came, and he told me he was joking, and that he thought I knew he wouldn’t do that, ever. I ended up crying even more because he didn’t buy it and I considered it lying to me, even if it was just an innocent joke on his side.

After the tantrum I threw, it hit me. My frustration didn’t have anything to do with shortage of chocolate cream I wouldn’t even eat. Well, maybe a bit. But the majority was coming from me not being able to achieve my daily goals.

For me, as I realized, this is not a survival stage. This isolation thing is how I am going to continue to exist even when the bans are lifted. It is the only way for me to stay focused on my goals, determined to make them work, and capable of controlling the time to do it.

Baby, husband, housework, blog and Bachelor’s thesis (soon to be replaced with studying for IELTS). That’s all I can afford doing at this time. So I need to establish some rules.

I don’t have my schedule quite figured out yet, but I have set a minimum of self-care goals I need to do daily in order to start my day right.

This list doesn’t include things I have to do anyway – like taking care of my child, cleaning the house, preparing the meals, spending time with Filip or working on my thesis. They are mandatory.

The stuff I need to commit to is “it would be good to do it, but if you’ve got no time, it’s okay” kind of stuff. I have to discipline myself and create enough time and motivation for the following things:

Having breakfast, lunch and dinner

Easier said than done – I often forget to eat and replace my meal with a handful of walnuts or a few tablespoons of Greek yogurt. Not good! I need to get better at ingesting food.

Doing my hair

More often than not, it’s super messy and it bugs me. I didn’t grow it into a 100+ centimeters masterpiece for nothing! When I wake up, I want to make sure I have my hair figured out so it doesn’t become a maintenance issue later in the day.

Put on my makeup

No, I’m not going anywhere – but I already have my phone full of pictures where I’m in zombie mode. I don’t use much, anyway – a bit of eyeshadow and eye pencil and I’m good for the day. But it lifts my spirits up. I feel like I’m going somewhere. Ha ha.

Drink at least 1L of water

It’s not enough, but in comparison to zero I’ve been drinking in the past week, it’s a start. Drinking more coffee than water cannot be good!

Brush teeth twice a day

This sounds nasty and embarrassing to put on the list, but I know someone apart from me needs to hear this, too. I sometimes end up drinking coffee before brushing my teeth in the morning, which postpones it for early afternoon, or I eat super late and my night time teeth brushing turns into a 3am one. Not anymore!

Exercise

Right now, I’m not actively working on losing post-pregnancy weight (I’ve got about 5kg left to get rid of), but I want to stay alive. So I gotta move!

Get fresh air

I try to do this daily when I take Viktor to our back yard, but sometimes we end up staying only for 15-20min. We need more oxygen and sunlight than that!

Shower in the evening

I hate admitting this, too, but sometimes it happens that I’m too tired or busy and I choose to shower next morning. It doesn’t happen a lot, but even once per week creates a bad habit. I need to work on getting myself into bed smelling nicer!

Get 6 hours of sleep

In comparison to the current 3 or 4, this sounds like a lottery. I need to sleep more to stay creative, although sleeping less makes me more sharp and alert!

What does your list look like? I know you’ve got one, too!