Time has lost some meaning for me in the last few weeks. Because of what I do for a living, I’ve been watching Covid-19 spread. Recognising the need for lockdown a few weeks ago, our family has been social distancing from others for about two weeks.
But as I reflect back on the month of March that just ended, it feels both the fastest and slowest month of my life. Maybe time also feels weird for you now too.
As an entrepreneur, weekdays and weekends have always bled into other, but now even more so each day feels similar to the last and the next, with little to distinguish them.
This is not how we are wired. Rhythms and patterns are part of the world we live in. Our lives are filled with them, and we actively seek them out. Sometimes we can get stuck in these patterns and that stops us changing and moving forward. But most often these patterns form the bedrock of a healthy life.
We need to build new patterns and rhythms for this time of lockdown. This will look different for each person.
It might mean having meals at set times.
It might mean doing exercise every day.
It might mean allocating a time to connect with friends.
It almost certainly means taking a “day off” once a week - and completely disrupting your regular lockdown pattern.
It absolutely means marking any moments that happen in the next few weeks: birthdays, anniversaries, special moments MUST NOT be forgotten.
It definitely means creating new rituals. Our family, for example, plans to have Fancy Fridays where we dress up and make a real effort for dinner on Friday night.
Build rhythms and patterns into your days and weeks of lockdown. Take the opportunity to build NEW rhythms and patterns if you didn’t like your old ones (for example, sleep late, have a mid afternoon break to walk around the garden, don’t keep office hours but do set a time to finish your work each day and mark that workday-end with a ritual that celebrates not having to get into rush hour traffic).
And don’t forget to mark the changing of the seasons that is happening now. Nature is loving a break from us, and this change of season promises to be something special if you can see what nature is doing from your lockdown premises.
Recapture a sense of time and its passing. Make time work for you; do not be its servant.