planning for 2021

Well, it's 2021... and things in the world look like they might actually get worse before they get better.  We have political stress, pandemic stress, financial/familial/vocational/relational stress. We are coping with stress we have often never encountered before! Things we couldn't imagine, such as job or home loss! Financial strain... the list goes on.
It's been almost a year now since we first began our isolation and I decided I needed to make a plan for 2021 so it doesn't swallow me up whole. So much of what is going on is out of our control and yet we have to make decisions everyday about how to maneuver through it and continue to care for ourselves and our families.
So I need a plan for 2021, but here it is the first week over and I am feeling the stress of having to make a plan! Returning to the basics of mental wellness and to take a bite from the Gambler's Anonymous pages my goal is to slow my world down and remember to remain in the present, to concentrate on moving through the day one step at a time. Finding a healthy balance with screen time for myself and my family is especially challenging when so much of our time is spent at home with limited 'others' to interact with. 
So for now, my small movements forward in the past few weeks have included the following: 
The Christmas theme in our house this year was "Things to do while stuck in the house for possibly long periods of time".  Our family has invested in comfy, reusable masks. I set limits for myself over watching the news as it negatively affects my mental health. I set screen time limits for my children so I don't have to hound them to shut it down. I limit my time on social media and concentrate on positive messaging only. I snooze and block friends regularly when our politics collide or the negativity takes over. When things are rough, I try to remember to eat and take in water everyday (and brush my teeth). One day, one step, one minute, and one thing at a time to keep moving forward. This is what will bring us through these difficult times. One. Step. At. A. Time.

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