Being kind to myself
Allowing myself to return to routine slowly, and with self-compassion
You are reading The Dwindle River Diaries, an artist & gardener’s journal from rural Aotearoa by Zenobia Southcombe.
Kia ora friends,
After a bad case of the flu, I have now had a chance to get back to near-normal. Yes, I have been getting sick a lot! I am putting it down to Long Covid combined with a stressful few years.
Of course, I’m now behind in everything so I’ve trimmed back my to-do list and am allowing myself time to do my ‘dailies’ again. Today’s letter is about returning to mahi/work in a slow and compassionate way.
So, what are my dailies?
I have a list of things I aim to do every day. They include:
daily plan & review goals
drawing/painting
a walk or a workout
yoga/stretching
end of day review
It’s an excel spreadsheet that I print off each month, and colour in each box when the daily is done. I’ve found it an easy way to keep track of habits (which, in my life, can so easily fade away if untracked) and a useful way to review the day.
It changes slightly from time to time. ‘Drawing/painting’ used to be ‘art/photography’ - but I found there were too many days I didn’t do any drawing. It took me a long time to establish a daily sketchbook habit and I’m really disappointed that I let this slip.
I’ve gone back to my CreativeBug classes to help get me started again, and I am enjoying the sketchbook time that I do have. There’s a bit of fear when I’ve had a break from drawing and painting, that the vision I have in my head won’t be what turns up when I put pencil to paper.
But I know the only way to change that is to practice! I am starting small, and keeping my expectations low.
I hope when I send my next letter in a week I will be able to report good progress.
Zenobia x
P.S. I also have some good news! But it deserves its own letter, so I will share more next week.
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