Decisions, decisions . . .
- Today or tomorrow?
- Yoga or weights?
- Chocolate or vanilla? (Pfft, puhleeze.)
An indecisive brain is a burden. It’s often where stress begins – and it’s often within your control.
How Does One Feel Smitten + Zen, Not Stressed?
The best strategy for feeling smitten with your in utero baby and your pregnancy, not stressed with life, is a simple one: a schedule.
- I know.
- Dull.
- But it works.
There is no contemplation. There is no procrastination. There are no what-ifs. The mental benefit of simply knowing… is enormous!
Scheduling was embraced by American women in the Victorian Age when they’d:
- Wash on Monday
- Iron on Tuesday
- Mend on Wednesday
- Market on Thursday
- Clean on Friday
- Bake on Saturday
- Rest on Sunday
How cool were they? We can learn from them!
Especially from Rest on Sunday, it’s an important one. Allow yourself a day of rest. Downtime is a time for you to recover both mentally and physically. And rest also reduces burnout, which is key because burnout is harder to combat than fatigue. Prioritize rest.
Back to scheduling.
Create a schedule for food and exercise that is tailored to you
My workout schedule doesn’t vary. I go to bed at night and I know which workout I’ll be doing in the morning:
- Pilates on Monday
- Weights on Tuesday
- Yoga on Wednesday
- Weights on Thursday
- Pilates on Friday
- Yoga on Saturday
- Rest on Sunday (sooo Victorian)
The same goes for meal planning – I have a plan and no thought goes into meal prep for a few days. I decide, based on the type of week I’m anticipating and my level of motivation, what we’ll be eating for the next four days. Any more than four days and leftovers are forgotten, managing perishables creates stress, and I can’t pivot if I decide it’s a pizza night.
I like grocery delivery, but I also find it invigorating to forage in person because I make new discoveries.
Mindtools says this about the mighty schedule:
“Scheduling is the art of planning your activities so that you can achieve your goals and priorities in the time you have available.”
Life can be hard, and being pregnant or trying to get pregnant can feel overwhelming, but you can feel smitten + zen by giving yourself the gift of a schedule.