How to Get Back on Track (with a minimum of fuss)

Dear Readers,

Those of you in CA know we’ve had a record stormy + rainy season, which is perfect for alleviating the drought! It’s also tough on the trees, many of which have blown over in the 70 mph winds, taking out power lines, sometimes for days. 

No power at our house for a few days recently was not much fun, but was mostly manageable, and the quiet candlelit evenings eating mountain mikes pizza and playing dominoes as a family were actually pretty lovely. 

That, along with needing some significant dental work (yay!), was just enough disruption to knock me off of my helpful routine, though - the stuff that I’ve learned over the years keeps me mostly sane, centered, and nourished amid the stormy seas of life. 

By Friday I felt like sh*t and woke up Saturday feeling stuck and unmotivated to do literally anything. The good news is that I’ve been to this rodeo many times before, and usually “catch” myself before I go too far down the rabbit hole, so I can get back in the saddle. 

My sister complimented my ability to identify when I’m veering off track and then jump right back into the rhythm, and described it as an expression of self love. I said it feels more like survival sometimes. She said sometimes surviving is the greatest gift we can give ourselves. So true. 

So what’s the formula for getting unstuck and back on track? 

I’ve learned that it’s as simple (and tough) as doing the next “right”, “best” thing you can think of to regain movement and momentum.

I got up, put on my extremely unattractive vibram 5 finger running shoes (yes, I realize this makes me seem like a minimal running cultist, and maybe I am?) and headed out of the house and onto the muddy trails nearby. 

Within 30 minutes I felt restored to solid ground, and spent the next hour getting lost in the muck. 

The cure for feeling blah, stuck, and out of sync was simply taking the next “right” (or right-seeming to me at the time anyway) step. 

If we’ve been on this earth a while, we’ve probably learned what our helpful (+ necessary) routines are. I used to feel weird for “needing” these foundational supports in place, but now I know we all need them, and that they just take different forms for different people. 

Feeling balanced, healthy, and joyful depends on us incorporating them into our lives in reliable ways. And choosing to keep our commitment to ourselves by actually doing them. 

When we’re feeling out of sorts, and want to reconnect with our intuition, it helps to spend some time in quiet solitude - sitting, perhaps journaling, or going for a walk. If we allow ourselves the space, we’ll know what we need to do to restore ourselves. 

If we want to show up well for others (with patience, nurturing, and love), we need to do it for ourselves first. 

We can’t give others what we don’t know how to give ourselves. 

And the more we nourish ourselves, the more we have to give our loved ones, our work, and the world. I promise.