By Sam Laura Brown
From Sam Laura Brown
Sometimes life feels messy.
We don’t feel like ourselves. We don’t feel like there’s consistency. We don’t feel like there’s certainty.
And there are so many reasons we can feel like this, both good and bad.
A new job. A new place to live. Moving cities. Moving countries. Travel. A breakup. A fall out. Gaining weight. Losing weight. New goals. New friends. The end of an era. The beginning of a new one.
These things make our lives feel messy because they disrupt our routines.
We spend a lot of time and and a lot of money trying to escape the mundane and predictable. And yet it’s the mundane and predictable that keeps us sane – it anchors us when everything around us is changing.
If you’ve ever changed jobs then you’ll probably know the ‘messy’ feeling I’m talking about.
The new job forces you to change certain parts of your routine – maybe you have to wake up at a different time, maybe you can’t go to your gym any more because of your new hours or new location, you might have to dress differently or act differently and you’re so busy concentrating on not screwing it all up that you decide you’ll just let everything else slide for a few weeks (while you get settled) and then it takes at least a few months to get it all back.
And you’ll definitely know the feeling if you’ve travelled for more than a couple of weeks at once.
Constantly moving, constantly waiting. Packing and unpacking. Different meals, different time zones, different languages. It’s exciting but life feels messy, and it can only go on for so long before you start craving routine.
That messy feeling isn’t easy to get rid of.
We make perfect plans to get our lives back on track and come up against obstacles – whether they’re self-made excuses or otherwise. But I’ve found that keeping little things the same everyday is a really good way to start getting that sense of routine (and togetherness) back.
Below are 5 things I like to do when life feels messy. I don’t do them all at once mind you – I just pick a couple and try to do them as consistently as I can.
1. I make my bed
I’ve talked about the power of making my bed before. It’s probably the easiest way to start that sense of routine and I can do it anywhere in the world (except if my boyfriend is still in bed asleep). I don’t make the bed perfectly but I make it well enough that it gives me a sense of accomplishment and familiarity and that’s the point.
2. I take something off my plate
Ok so this can be hard, but I find that making an effort to do less really goes a long way when it comes to getting rid of that messy feeling.
I definitely have a tendency to commit to too many things and sometimes when life’s feeling messy I think I have to add something new to make it all better – a new workout, a new hobby, a new habit (like meditation).
But I’ve found that taking something away is better than adding something new, especially when there’s a lot of change happening in every other area of my life.
Less is more as they say.
3. I find a way to sweat
I find I start to go a little stir crazy if I don’t exercise. That doesn’t mean I feel like exercising when life feels messy, but I know it’ll help snap me out of my slump more quickly than almost anything else.
It doesn’t need to be anything crazy, I just need to get my heart rate up and sweat. Sometimes it takes a big pep talk to get myself to the gym, or even just to get myself on my bedroom floor doing a Blogilates video. But whenever I decide to just bite the bullet and do it that sense of togetherness always starts to come back, and i can’t argue with that.
My favourite exercises for this type of thing are Blogilates videos or HIIT training on the treadmill (if I need something a little more intense to get myself back on track).
Maybe you’re not the kind of person that needs to sweat every day. That’s ok, onto the next one.
4. I eat the same thing for breakfast
I kind of do this anyway because I LOVE what I have for breakfast (muesli/porridge and fruit) but when I’m travelling or when there’s a lot of change in my life I try to make the effort to keep my breakfast consistent.
When life feels messy, pick something you love for breakfast and stick with it.
5. Hugging
Hugging helps everything. And so does spooning.
I know there are all those studies that link hugging with happiness and I believe them 100%.
What do you think?
Do you ever get that messy feeling? And how do you get rid of it?