How to Deal With That Blehhh Feeling
October was an….interesting month. I follow a blog called Intuitive Astrology that warned readers it would be a challenging few weeks thanks to the activity in what they call the Cosmos (like the full blue moon and someone in retrograde) so it's not like I didn't see it coming. I take that type of advice with a grain of salt, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't believe that what happens in the skies and in our lives weren't connected somehow.
Regardless of your belief system, it was a rocky month. It seems October came to let us know that 2020 isn't quite finished with us yet and there was a lot of tension, miscommunication, inexplicable exhaustion and all around BLEHHH in the air.
Whether you felt it or not, it got me thinking about how to handle periods like this one, when things just feel OFF and you can't quite find your peace. A rut. A clusterf*ck. A caca phase. Whatever you want to call it, it's definitely a time when you have to be intentional about protecting (or restoring) your peace.
How to Deal With The Rut
Take it slow
Do the least amount of work possible. If you can, take a day off and spend it doing NOTHING. It's not the day to clean your house, reorganize your closets, NONE of that. When the air feels like this, you need to have a seat and let your body and your mind rest.
Spend time outside
It's cold AF right now, at least in Texas, so I get that you may not want go out there, but our bodies were made to be in nature at least SOME of the time. Between working from home and the wintry weather, it's very possible to spend multiple days in a row indoors…and that can wreak even greater havoc on your mental and emotional health. So even if you're just walking to the mailbox, GO OUTSIDE.
Step away from big projects
Now is not the time to try to plow through anything you have looming. With the exception of hard deadlines (particularly the ones that affect your income) you should do minimal creative work. Yes, show up, make progress, but now is not the time to force yourself to get to the finish line. You’ll likely just end up frustrated even if you do manage to make meaningful progress because your creative juices just aren’t flowing.
Do NOT engage with the Negative Nancies
Some people just like to argue, and like I said, the Cosmos were up to no good, so couple the already tension-filled air with an argument with a person whose only goal is to piss you off, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster. Nothing positive will come out of attempting to reason with a person who just wants drama, so do yourself a favor and avoid the people in your life who are like this, at least until the rut passes (and maybe also forever).
Give Yourself Grace
This goes along with taking it slow but feels worthy of its’ own sub-heading. You are not yourself, so don’t expect to be able to do the things you normally do, the way you would normally do them. It’s OK to skip your workout, to call it a night at 7pm, even to binge-watch your favorite season of FRIENDS. This phase is not forever, and the more you fight it, the worse you’re going to feel, so just allow yourself the grace to slow down, baby yourself, and know that this phase will pass.
