E36: Managing Busy

What do you do when you are going, going, going and need to stop to take a breath?  In this episode we disucuss strategies for managing busy periods of life and how to recognize you need to take a break and switch things up.

 

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Kellie writes…

In this episode we talk a lot about being busy and my need to find some time to be still on a recent road trip.  It was such an interesting revelation – and didn’t come easily, there was about a full day of edge and grumpiness where I just couldn’t settle until I found the solution I was looking for.

Recognizing there is something affecting you is hard, but learning to listen to when you feel ‘off’ can be a good time to stop and take a personal inventory.

One of the watercolors I did of the the massive sandstone formations near Moab, UT. Even though I didn’t have time to get very detailed on my sketches and watercolors, I felt a lot of peace playing with the colors and shapes.

Juliette writes…

I welcomed this week episode with much interest.

My life has been feeling quite chaotic lately. I struggled to keep up my own creative practice in the middle of life changing events and every day busy-ness…

In a previous episode we tackled the subject of being overwhelmed, today we talk about managing busy. It is a fine line between both. Right now, both episodes were helpful reminders for me.

As Kellie mentions in this episode, it is sometimes easier to help a friend with “managing busy”. When we are in the middle of it all, we lack the insight we need, and outside help or advice can be a solution.

I took some notes to remind myself of certain ideas we discussed.

Here are 5 ideas to help managing busy times in our lives:

  1. Prioritize. Look at your calendar and see if there are some things you can cancel or move
  2. Give yourself permission to ask for help. You may not need to do it all by yourself
  3. Take breaks to keep your perspective. Get up and move, get some fresh air if you can.
  4. Don’t forget self-care. Simplify it and/or shorten it if you need but make time for self-care.
  5. Tangle. I use the Zentangle Method® to keep my creative juices going. Even when busy is the norm a mono-tangle does not take long and help me nourish my creativity.

What do you do to manage busy?

Please share your ideas. We would love to discover other ways to manage busy.