Monday, 10/19/20: Talking about what’s working right now and quick ways to boost your mood

Happy Monday!

It’s a new week, which means it’s time for your next Monday motivation newsletter. Read on below for some steps to a happier Monday, a short story and a roundup of positive thoughts to get your week started.

Three Steps to a Happier Monday

Each newsletter starts with three prompts to inspire gratitude and simple intention setting. Take a moment and jot down answers to these three questions. To give an example, I share my answers below.  

Step 1: What are three things I appreciated from the weekend? 

Step 2: What is one thing I can be excited about today?

Step 3: What is my intention for this week? 

GRATITUDE: From my weekend, I am thankful for a fun Friday night with a friend, time to relax and seeing all the Halloween decorations on my walk on Saturday.

TODAY: I’m excited about it being one of my best friend’s first day of work!! Can’t wait to hear how it goes. 

INTENTION: I loved doing this a few weeks ago, so my intention this week is to again have three “no-spend” days. 

Okay, your turn! And if you want to share your three steps, I am all ears. 🙂

Lesson of the Week: “For Right Now” 

Next week marks one year since I sent out my first newsletter. I can’t believe it!

To all of you who have subscribed over the past year, thank you so much!! This newsletter has been such a fun creative outlet for me and I am continually amazed that people besides my mom and grandma read each week. Hopefully, you are reading because this newsletter adds some element of joy, value or reflection to your Monday and enhances the start to your week in a small way. As always, if you ever have any feedback on how this content could improve or better serve you, please feel free to email me or drop an anonymous note here.

It was fun to reflect on the various newsletter entries from this past year… like that time I lost my entire wallet on a Monday morning or created a “20 in 2020 list” (need to do an update!) to navigating this year with feeling like “my life is on hold” to learning about loneliness. 

Every time I make a year-over-year comparison, I’m amazed by the changes that can happen in just 12 months. I think we can all agree that this obviously rings true for 2020 and if we’re being honest, comparing 2020 to any other year can be a bit a triggering. 

But there is one change from this year that I’m pretty proud of. It’s an internal shift and it was born out of necessity, but I do feel like because of this year, I’m more willing to accept change and able to navigate transitions. 

It’s important to call out that I have the privilege of saying this because of the types of transitions I’ve experienced this year, such as working from home for the first time, relocating for almost half of this year and experiencing changes in friendships and social life activities. I’m not diminishing any of these things, but I definitely recognize that they are not on the same scale as serious changes like losing a family member or a job or postponing a big event like a wedding.

However, as someone who has carried around the narrative that I “just don’t do well with change,” I look back on the transitions I’ve encountered this year, and I’m proud of how I’ve navigated them. 

On Sunday, my message in the Storyteller by MHN app (btw, love this app for daily inspiration) was “Give It Time.” And in the essay that accompanied the message, the following quote stuck with me: 

“In every season of your life, even when you are able to see clearly that you are where you need to be, you will still have questions and things that you will not be able to figure out. And in this way, you will always be in some kind of transition. And that is okay.” 

The fact that this message resonated with me (especially the “and that is okay” part) really shows growth in regard to my mindset around change. A year ago, I probably would have either discounted the validity of this quote out of fear or felt extremely anxious about the possibility that I would always be in some kind of transition.   

Something that’s been helping me is adding the disclaimer of “for right now” to my everyday vocabulary. Typically, this disclaimer shows up in two ways. I’m either describing something as “working for me right now” or as “just not a priority for me right now.” 

I’ve been applying this disclaimer to my morning and evening routines, workout schedules, what I’m cooking for meals, etc. Saying “for right now” is key for me because it reminds to continually check in with myself and see if what I’m doing is still working and subconsciously prepares me for the next inevitable change or transition.

For example, it was recently working for me to allocate some of my early morning hours to knocking out a big work assignment. My mind is the sharpest in the morning and I found it easier to focus without emails or chats flying. But eventually, I grew tired of burning the candle at both ends. Because of the nature of my job and the fact I live alone and have no commute home to trigger that it’s the end of the day, I didn’t find I was necessarily logging off any earlier. So, I switched it up.

Right now, I’m enjoying reserving early morning hours for activities I do for leisure, like journaling, reading and working out, before I dive in and officially start the workday around 9. Then, if I work a little later into the evening, I don’t feel so bad because I already had some fun relaxing time that morning. This is working for me right now, but I also know when I head home to Florida for the holidays, I’ll likely switch it up again. I may even go back to working early in the morning to free up my evenings for family time. 

This might sound funny to some people, but as someone who hates breaking any type of streak, I’ve found the addition of this simple disclaimer to be really helpful. 

Of course, we all deal with circumstances that are out of our control, but if there is a recurring pain point in your day-to-day life, chances are there’s a small shift or temporary adjustment that might make the right now a bit more enjoyable. As Laura Vanderkam writes in her book, I Know How She Does It: 

“Look at your daily life and change what you can to make your hours better. We often describe our lives in abstractions, but happiness comes from making our day-to-day lives as good as possible.” 

What could you realistically add to your day-to-day life right now that would make your daily experience a bit better? In a time when many days can blur together and all feel the same, what could you do this week to mix it up? Who knows, you may just find a new routine or ritual that works really well for you… for right now. 🙂 

On My Monday Radar

Sometimes we just aren’t ready to jump into our Monday to-do list right away. In case you want some content to procrastinate with, here is a roundup of a few positive things on my radar:  

• Notice when you’re doing OK. As we continue with the theme of “the right now,” I wanted to share this article about calming an anxious mind. It reminded me a lot of the “What Are 3 Things Going Right?” question I wrote about a few weeks ago as both practices focus in on what’s happening in the present moment. When we do that, we can realize that, at least for this moment, we are OK and that good things can still be happening amidst the craziness. As the article reads, “Noticing that you’re actually all right, right now is not laying a positive attitude over your life like a pretty veil. Instead, you are knowing a simple but profound fact: ‘In this moment I am all right.’” Such a good reminder. 
• Quick ways to boost your mood right now. Saving this article for the next time I need a pick-me-up! I think my favorite suggestion is either to “Wear Something Bright” or the reminder to “Look Up.”
• Loving this new-to-me shade of nail polish. Having my nails painted is definitely a pick-me-up for me right now. When I got my nails done this weekend, I tried this shade for the first time and am loving it! And I’m not the only one. My nail technician told me everyone had been requesting it all weekend. It’s a great fall color! 
• My weekly college football podcast. I absolutely love college football, thanks mostly to the fact that I was raised in a big college football family and attended a college with a big football program (Go Gators!). This weekend was filled with great games to watch and I’m so excited for the Big 10’s season to start on Saturday (Go PSU!!). I love adding this podcast to my weekly rotation for a preview/summary of what to watch for on the weekend and to hear the analysis of my teams’ games in the recap episode on Sunday. 

That’s all for today! I hope you found something in today’s newsletter that sparked motivation, made you smile or inspired a positive Monday thought. Don’t underestimate the power of starting small… a fulfilling week starts with just one fulfilling day. You’ve got this! 

Let’s make it a great Monday!
Megan

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