From around 6.30 am this morning I knew today was going to be one of those days, what started well after a restful night of sleep quickly turned into chaos and conflict thanks to a rather grumpy toddler. Ironically he had also slept well but had just decided that today was the time to assert control and test out the boundaries. All part of growing up and finding your own voice and personality especially at age 2 but not what I needed as I rushed around trying to get everything together before a full day of work. That’s when I knew I needed to do something differently, I could continue to carry the stress of our morning routine around with me in the hope that with the busyness of the day the tension would evaporate-highly unlikely or I could do something out of the ordinary and break the cycle.
After dropping him off at nursery instead of rushing to work, I took 30 minutes and went for a swim. I was literally in the water for quarter of an hour but the difference it made was immense-just having a mental break before going into a challenging workplace gave me the space I needed to find some much-needed calm and alone time.
The change in location also gave me the opportunity to change my daily habit and try a new coffee place, so often we are on autopilot that mixing up the daily routine even in such a small way can take us out of the everyday and help us think more creatively. As I walked through the door I felt a tap on my shoulder and an old friend gave me a giant hug. Exactly what was needed, better still we talked for 10 minutes and he bought me my morning coffee. The smallest act of kindness from him made my day and it became just one of the reasons why today transformed into a fantastic day. I went on to be more productive than I had all week especially with my creative work and many of the things I had been procrastinating on just seemed to flow easily.
I highly recommend just tweaking your routine, even slightly and carving out just 15 minutes for yourself especially if you are going from one stressful situation to another, and if you see someone who looks like they could do with a hug, think about buying them a coffee-a small act of kindness from you might make the biggest difference to them.