Category: Living

Motivation Follow-up

Was going to title this Motivation Follow-up and Daily Stress Idea but that just looks so wrong. Well here is my Monday and early Tuesday. Thank you to those that enjoyed the last post. Stay safe and emotionally well. Over used at this point but we truly are in this together it may look different for each of us but we all have stressors that we will have a hard time with.

Daily stress during this time of Pandemic Shelter-in place has been draining. Listened to The Good Guys Wear Masks – Still Untitled: The Adam Savage Project – 4/7/20, this was a wide variety of subjects from masks, stress (time stamp 7.40 – 12.00 and 20.00), tv binge-watching, motivation (26.19), and assorted other stuff. It was nice to see that others are feeling stressed about everything going around us and how they are individually handling their emotional place. Ideas for relaxing and activities found to fill in the hours. It was peaceful for a time to know I was not alone in being stressed by what is happening around us as a whole. Their ideas about motivation and how they handled it was useful. 

Hopefully I can continue to work on being productive.  Concerned for the see-saw I was looped in of motivation and no motivation. The lack of motivation reminded me of an article I read out of The Washington Post, acknowledging the lack of motivation is okay. Don’t feel like ‘getting things done’? It’s okay not to be productive during a pandemic; by Sunny Fitzgerald, April 6, 2020, at 11:00 am EDT, I found this helpful when I overthink my moments when my thirty-minute break turns into an hour or two of just nothing. My thoughts run the gamut of-how can I be so lazy? No wonder I can get nothing done. All-time favorite negative reflection is no wonder I am not a success. 

Honestly, what is success? We have the world’s view, but it is what the world as a whole has created and run by individuals. As individuals, we contribute to life in our own way. Be it a simple way or complex. From a business success for me personally, emotionally, do I genuinely want to be an individual that runs a country, company, or any vast corporate/institutionalized subject and be responsible for everything, be it creative success or destruction. The answer for me is no, that is not who I am. Who am I, though in this world of the current chaos and past success and failure? I am not sure some days. Do I want to judge myself by financial success, friendships, clean home, work accolades, and even more? Will you look at that I have gone, and sidetracked myself again on a whole other train of thought. Something to return to and it is an aspect of life I spend a lot of time contemplating. I need to return to what I am concentrating on now, which is the decluttering of my family home.

Previously mentioned that to address my lack of motivation, I would work on breaking my day down into 30-minute increments. Has shown some progress not as much as I would like, but that may also be that I am harder on myself than I should. Noticed I lost momentum after I sat through the 2 pm Ohio News Conference. With that in mind, there are some ideas that I am going to implement on Wednesday to see if these changes will help to achieve more.

The idea is to work with a room by room cleaning list, daily cleaning list, and project list. Due to my perceived defects, I have made in the past multiple attempts of decluttering and routine. Down below is a copy of one of many list attempts from 2013. This desire to downsize and clean on a routine is an ongoing struggle. Physically and emotionally I become exhausted, and I overthink my perceived failure to work through my limitations. Kickstarting out of the stop becomes long due to the anxiety-inducing nature of making changes in long-held emotional routines. Feelings of frustration and negativity toward my mind, not being able to control itself. Thankfully as the years move forward, the length of time becomes less as I take the time to step back and understand it is okay as a person to have limitations. We are not a one size fits all thought process that will work well for one person may not all the time work for another. As we learn and grow about who we are, we can take pieces and parts of other people’s actions or lack thereof and move toward an action plan of improvement that works for our circumstances. There are many articles and books in this respect that I plan to review and see what works for me.

I did have some success on Monday and slightly felt accomplished as I watched the OH News Conference. I started a sorting project that was stationary. The project was bagging my cables and chargers collecting in a cardboard box. Yes, I know from a Green Living and Zero waste perspective this is not a good method but have not found a way that fits those two living aspects, which I strive for, will leave for a future project. Currently, computer cables and phones with chargers bagged. Cables and Phones are in separate containers.

One of the cable containers. There are 2 more pictures after the to do list and references.

have found over the years that bagging the Cables and Phones worthwhile decreases the snarled mess and re-purchasing stuff that we already have. Before this sorting, I was able to declutter one of the tables in our kitchen that we purchased for food prep and bread making. I need to contemplate where I am going to take this sense of accomplishment before I lose again to loss of energy or anxiety of doing things too slowly.   

The Front Room of our home seems to be an excellent place to start, which has become a dumping ground for forgotten small projects toward sorting and decluttering. This cluttered mess began in this room because we do not use our front door, and I had previously hoped to change it into an exercise area. With our shelter in place looking to continue into June, maybe July; these months are based on the Ohio Medical Director saying we may peak in End of April to mid-May since we have no centralized testing to determine who is asymptomatic and who is not. There will be a slow return to normal. With that in mind returning the front room to an exercise area seems to be a priority. Well that is it for Monday will see how I do on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Tuesday may not be too productive as a Home Health Aide. I need to be at my clients home at 6 am. Feeling fatigued more than normal. This is from sinuses and whatever over the last two years of constant fatigue so we shall see how that goes. Stay safe and take care of yourself physically and emotionally they all go hand and hand so we can find who we are proud of being.

Reference 

The Good Guys Wear Masks – Still Untitled: The Adam Savage Project – 4/7/20, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwC-kuox71A

Don’t feel like ‘getting things done’? It’s okay not to be productive during a pandemic, By Sunny Fitzgerald, April 6, 2020, at 11:00 am EDT, https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/productivity-coronavirus-pandemic-projects/2020/04/06/742edf54-76e4-11ea-85cb-8670579b863d_story.html

4/6/2020 – 2 pm Ohio News Conference (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgDUTpUrNaM). Changes in how many people are allowed in stores at a time and aisle one way at a time. Our retail industry is doing a fantastic job. Reminder to wear our masks, job board with employment needs, social distancing, staying home, hospital expansion, and what aspects of our infrastructure is doing to help. Alluded that DeWine will look at manufacturing returning to the Ohio area. Review of information in regards to the Federal Prison and State Prison positive COVID-19 cases. Addressed returning snowbirds that they are welcome but to remember to quarantine for 14 days. There was a lot more.

Sample of a past list that did not work for me. (the original landscaped)

Elena’s DailySun.MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturday
Get up on time (4:30 am) go to bed on time (9:30 pm)             
Devotional Time With God             
Bible Study             
Laundry (fold, put away, deliver dirty to washing machine and start, swap to dryer, retrieve…)             
Clean a room (30 minutes or till done)   Front RoomKitchenGame RoomBedroomOfficeBack Bathroom
Clean a room (30 minutes or till done)   Laundry RoomFront BathroomCC RoomSewing/ Craft RoomFront HallwayBack Hallway
Awana Studying       
Exercise (30 min am and pm             
School Work CC and Me (2 hour ea)       
Sweep or Mop a Room       
Put out clothes for the next day (Bill and Me)       
Pack lunch for the next work day (Bill and Me)       
Video game with CC       
Work       
        
Unsure how to fix the image but the original was a landscape sheet
Elena’s DailySun.MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturday
Get up on time (4:30 am) go to bed on time (9:30 pm)             
Devotional Time With God             
Bible Study             
Laundry (fold, put away, deliver dirty to washing machine and start, swap to dryer, retrieve…)             
Clean a room (30 minutes or till done)   Front RoomKitchenGame RoomBedroomOfficeBack Bathroom
Clean a room (30 minutes or till done)   Laundry RoomFront BathroomCC RoomSewing/ Craft RoomFront HallwayBack Hallway
Awana Studying       
Exercise (30 min am and pm             
School Work CC and Me (2 hour ea)       
Sweep or Mop a Room       
Put out clothes for the next day (Bill and Me)       
Pack lunch for the next work day (Bill and Me)       
Video game with CC       
Work       
        

Motivation or the Lack thereof…

Unsure if there are others with this feeling of no motivation and loss of hours watching YouTube, reading, or clearing up my email since our life was slowed by the 2020 shelter in place for the safety of everyone due to COVID-19. Emotionally/Mentally, torn as a wife, mother, homeschool mom of a depressed but creative seventeen-year-old, Part-Time employee as a Home Health Aide, and homemaker. Currently, my husband is still working at an Engineering company in IT. I am striving to remove myself from worrying about others when I cannot assist. Family dynamics and the individual I care for part-time is in the high-risk health category—even acknowledging the guilt that does not sufficiently decrease the anxiety drain.  

With all this, my motivation to work on short or long term put off projects are still not there. I tried starting Spruce.Com article 4 Easy Steps to Reclaim Your Home from Clutter and Disorganization. This particular read started me listing each room and what needs done. Made it as far as the rooms list that was three days ago, became overwhelmed with listing the individual needs of each room. Was watching Adam Savage Q&A (3/31/20, Part 2) one of the visuals he made to a question posted about motivation. He made mention that when things were so overwhelming take it in small increments, which struck home more for me, which reminded me of an earlier article on Spruce.com that may be a better idea to start on the clutter to downsize. Before tackling the decluttering, I am going to figure out a reward for myself. 

The prize will either be a mix of working on an art project, bible study, blogging, watching a video, reading an article, or a nap. What will my day look like? I think I will return to what has worked in the past until my allergies, fatigue, or headaches flair up—using a kitchen timer for 30-minutes for a task and a 30-minute break. For some, this will come off slightly OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). Progress has been made over the years from using Excel marked with exact times 5:00 am, getting up, 5:05 am teeth, 5:15 am, taking a shower, etc., then getting upset when reality put me behind. Changing to 30-minute chunks of time releases me from the stress of keeping to an extreme regimented schedule. To-Do lists used to be on ledger pads and one to two pages long. After two days of trying to keep to an illogical/impractical schedule and task lists, I would become depressed over the perceived failure that would take weeks to drag myself out of. 

The weeks on end of perceived failure is what keeps building clutter because my previous routine style is unobtainable till I declutter and prioritize. So let’s start the journey again of trying another path that may or may not work only time will tell. Life is about adaptation and success as individuals we must search for the silver lining even among the perceived failures. For every half hour of success is one more piece of paper in recycling or in a box going toward Goodwill or Salvation Army once they open again after this COVID-19 shelter in place here in Ohio. Failure is another item off the table of ideas allowing me to move forward to a style that will work for me as an individual.

One final note for me I have chosen to decrease the amount of reading or to watch the documentation or news reports in regards to the COVID-19 the redundant questions of politicians or specialists the attacks based on political affiliation, we need to adjust the finger-pointing to after the crisis. Now is the time to concentrate on saving lives first and planning how to keep our economy afloat and reintegrate our world to a new normal when the curve of the disease has safely flattened out—my goal to watch just Ohio’s daily 2 pm news briefing. Hopefully, I can keep that plan to decrease my current stress and frustration.

Watched my state’s 2 pm News Conference 4/4/2020, a variety of subjects covered. One of them is that Psychiatrists and Psychologists are being allowed to take on new patients without a face to face appointment; this is wonderful because that is an aspect of our family’s needs. I am sure there are other people as well. The most important to me was how we as a state we’re going to follow through on our CDC suggestion of wearing a mask. Asked to wear the masks and the Ohio website is providing cleaning, proper wearing, and the making of fabric masks.

The positive words are great, but this truly hits my social anxiety buttons. How do I work through emotionally that wearing a mask is so apparent? My thoughts, even though I know they are illogical. It does not stop me from thinking about them and having them impact my actions. Will I be made fun of for wearing the mask and no one else is? Will I be made fun of for wearing a black one this is what I have available? Dr. Acton did have a great analogy of this is a cultural change. Great thought, but still, I struggle with my feelings of this change in a daily routine. What I have done to work around my anxiety of being made fun of is to create a small bag of supplies that I will have in a carry bag in my car. Small bag/purse will have set of plastic gloves, cloth mask, container with a couple lysol wipes, and pair of thin plastic coated work gloves. My bag is set-up so it is compact, easy to sanitize, and refill. (see below). Please be aware the below bag is not approved by any officials this is personal, that allows me to work around my anxiety and be prepared. Another aspect of the update that gave me frustration is that our local government has received no direction from our Federal Government on how to disperse the money for the gig and self-employed citizens. Why is our Federal leadership not working on this if they are where are they in sending this out Ohio leadership is not expecting a response for a month?  Not an aspect of our world I can fix so all I can do is try not to think about it. 

This is it for me today. I am going to keep working on decluttering with the intention of downsizing.  

Have a great day and stay safe during this change of culture and daily life.

What I have in my bag and the containers I store them in. (lol-yes they are labeled)
Fits in a small bag, allowing for easy grab, put away, and cleaning once I have made it back home.

The information mentioned above:

Spruce.com How to Organize Your Home, 4 Easy Steps to Reclaim Your Home from Clutter and Disorganization, Written by Sarah Aguirre, Updated 10/12/19, https://www.thespruce.com/get-your-home-organized-in-4-easy-steps-1900131

Adam Savage Video time stamp 12:39: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFcS9DX-dyA

Spruce.com How to Declutter Your Home, Room by Room, Written by Elizabeth Larkin, Updated 08/09/19, https://www.thespruce.com/decluttering-your-entire-home-2648002

OCD Definition from Mayo Clinic Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/obsessive-compulsive-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20354432

Ohio COVID19 (Cloth Face Coverings (Masks) COVID-19 Checklist, April 04, 2020, | COVID-19) https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/covid-19/home/covid-19-checklists/cloth-face-coverings-covid-19-checklist

Random Observation from a Hourly Employee

I just found this, It was written back in 2016, but I do find it still appropriate even now in 2020.

I am coming from the thoughts of an hourly employee of the American Corporate Machine. I have been working for twenty plus years in the retail foodservice industry and have noticed a decrease in how many employees there are to customers. Additionally, prices for consumers are increasing. This decrease and increase I perceive began as our hourly wage (example Ohio starting wage 2007 $5.25 – 2015 $8.25). The personal concern is that with many states striving to force companies to pay a minimum of $15.00 over the next 2 to 4 years. Can the consumer and the corporate structure truly support the increase? If the minimum increases, so do all of the other wages above minimum increase, or they are supposed. Yes, having an increase in salary is excellent visually. Genuinely am I gaining anything by my state, forcing my employer to increase my pay when I can no longer quickly gain full-time work in the industry I have always worked. The food or entertainment I enjoy increases to cover the cost of the employee providing the service I am using. Additionally, the amount of team members I have to work with on a shift decreases to support the increase in money the company I work for is paying out.

Other aspects of company cost that tend to build up are couponing, double couponing, fuel perks, courtesy card discounts, or points. All of these ‘freebies’ are not free. The money to cover these ‘freebies’ has to be covered by the company. With all these accumulating costs over the next five years, where will the hourly employee be part-time or full time or unemployed due to the corporate structure consolidating as seen with Kohl’s, Walmart, and other big companies in 2016? For those that comment on forms of Social Media that customer service does not exist. Here are some thoughts the employees have to work with fewer co-workers to do the same work they did in previous years. When a company had six staff on the floor to provide “excellent” customer service, are only scheduled for one or two employees. Many are part-time and cannot obtain full-time hours that their family budget needs.
For those consumers out there frustrated and impatient with long lines; from personal experience get used to it. In many locations in the retail and foodservice industry, those lines will only increase as the demand for higher minimum wages. This increase means the leadership of corporate structure will need to reduce cost, and that will be at the register, counter, or production method. The improvements are sadly in my perception a done deal, but as consumers strive to keep in mind that the people that are waiting on you are people too and that having to interact with rude and impatient people day in and day out become tiring. To put it in a word picture, the ‘family’ member that everyone avoids do you want to interact with that individual daily. Think of this when you are impatient or rude with an employee at your favorite shopping location. That employee has to deal with short-tempered, angry people hour upon hour; there is no walking away when you are at a counter, table, or register. Rudeness toward a consumer, you should not be tolerated, but are you interacting with the worker with respect as well. Respect is a two-way street; strive to see the perspective of the other person.

Prayerfully this finds everyone trying to stay the positive side of comfortable emotionally. As mentioned in the beginning, I just found this old post that never got uploaded. Figured will still be relevant as the state and companies begin to re-open in this time of COVID-19 chaos.