Admittedly, I hadn’t seen the movie Groundhog Day until just a couple of years ago. Who would have known that I would eventually become the star of the movie?! You know what I’m talking about, because YOU’RE the star of the movie, too! We’ve been living in Groundhog Day for nearly a year. Day after day, the same routine; it’s become so monotonous, just everything over and over again.
There’s no clear delineation between the work day, much less the work week, into the weekend. Everything just spills over into one other, and we keep going round and round, doing the same thing over and over and over again. If you are still feeling like you’re the star of Groundhog Day, I wanted to offer a few tips to help you break some of this monotony.
Number one: create different spaces for different activities.
I’m blessed to have a home office, so when I’m in my office I know that’s work time. If for some reason you do not have a separate room, for example, then I encourage you to have a particular section of that room for whatever activity it is. For example, if you have to be at the dining room table for work, then try to create just one section of that as your work area.
Or if you need to be in your bedroom, don’t take over the whole space. That way, you know when you’re in this particular space, that’s the activity that you’re doing. I love to drink my coffee while reading each morning; I do that in my front living room, sitting on one section of my sofa, looking out the window.
That signals for me, that’s my space for relaxation and to do some of my research. When I need to be more creative, I have a particular chair that I sit in, or I go outside if the weather is nice. Create different spaces for different activities.
The second thing is: use doorways or entryways as trigger points for you.
Again, if you are working in your bedroom, then use the trigger of walking through that doorway to signal that your workday is done and you’re now moving on to something personal: family time, workout time, dinnertime, or rest and relaxation.
Using that “crossing over the threshold” as a trigger will help you be more conscious in your decision of, “Hey, I’m moving onto the next thing. I’m not just in this circle. I clearly have separation in my day, and into the weekend.”
My final tip for you is: to try something new, anything new!
Break up the routine. If you normally work out in the morning, try in the afternoon. If you normally eat the same kind of meals every single day, try to break that up. For me, I noticed that even though I am continuing to do my workouts, I’m not walking as much, right? Like just even walking from my home then to my car, or to my child’s school – I am not doing nearly enough of that.
So I decided to recently break up my routine, try something new, and at lunchtime I’m taking little walks. Even if it means I’m doing circles through my home because it’s raining outside. I’m also listening to a walking meditation. Again, just something new to try to break it up a little bit. I hope these tips help you. If you have a tip of your own for how to get out of this Groundhog Day, please add it in the comments below!