Coming off of the 4th of July long weekend, the work week for many folks began on a Wednesday. Understandably, some employees opted to extend their mini vacation through the remainder of the week. Either way, there was slight shift in the week’s calendar.
After the 4th of July, my Monday began on Wednesday. I was thrown off. Were you?
Suffering Confusion
Regardless of whether you had to get back into the work groove on July 5th or carry on with non-professional daily commitments, did you experience any confusion around which day you were in? My calendar Monday still felt like Sunday as my husband had the day off. By Tuesday, I found myself floundering a few times and having to reorient myself around routines. On Wednesday, despite conversing with my husband prior to leaving the house for our Wednesday route walk, that we need to remember that today is Wednesday, he branched off at the Monday route fork. Auto-pilot! He was back on Monday, but it was Wednesday.
The remainder of the week presented more opportunities to check and recheck my commitments and to-dos to ensure I was in-step with my wall and e-calendar and not my internal schedule. That bio-calendar was off-kilter by 2 days for the remainder of the work week.
Pre-Prep in Anticipation
I’m so grateful that I knocked out a few of my normal Monday assignments prior to shutting down Friday before the holiday weekend. Otherwise, by the time I got to my desk on virtual Monday (aka Wednesday), those to-dos would have thrown me further into distressing catch-up chaos. Amazing how many emails and to-dos popped up that week.
Now that I’m here on Friday, July 7th writing this blog, I finally feel more in tune that work-wise and calendar-wise I’m finally syncing. The same type of disorientation happens after the flip of the calendar year. When I wrote paper checks, most years it took until at least mid-March before my head and hands automatically entered the correct year on the date line. Oy, the number of times I finagled the last digit (or 2) to make them look like they weren’t fraudulently altered. Grateful those days are gone.
Time Away
Returning from vacations mid-week also throws me. Fortunately, now that I have more control over my professional calendar, I prefer to block out a few recovery days to get back on track mentally. This allows me to begin the work week in alignment with a “real” Monday start. Prior to leaving for vacation or any planned trips, I do my best to set aside time to prep not only for the upcoming trip, but also for my return. That preparation reduces the bombardment a smidge. I don’t do well with overwhelm. Being as caught up as possible on any coursework for workshops I’m hosting or classes in which I’m enrolled; writing and scheduling my tips and newsletters for posting; tidying and cleaning the house (I prefer to return to a clean house without extraneous clutter to minimize unmitigated brain distractions) means I can focus on priorities rather than burning precious time and internal resources modulating “freak out”. Prepping the house gets slightly more complicated if I’m the only one leaving. It’s up to others to hopefully keep things neat in anticipation of my homecoming. If not, emotion regulation will gnaw at my energy bandwidth.
Leaving Clues
Mondays evenings are when I normally do yoga after work. But Monday, July 3rd was a Sunday in my mind. Yoga almost didn’t happen. It’s one of the few commitments for which I don’t have auto-alerts set. Why? Because I tend to be more flexible with the yoga day of the week as sometimes evening meetings or classes conflict. If I don’t do it on Monday, I will devote another evening. 4th of July week, I was intent on Monday knowing that this week it was unlikely on another day. But again, that Monday I was off routine. Long hikes, eating out, playing mindless computer games, nothing to anchor me into a specific weekday since these tend to be weekend activities. Fortunately, an hour or two before class, I realized it was Monday. I ran upstairs, put out my yoga clothes and left my weights on my office credenza as visual reminders. Next I set the kitchen timer just in case I didn’t visit the other 2 rooms. Voila. I made it to class…on time.
If you noticed, even as an organizer, I have to use multi-pronged approaches to stay on track. I continually turn to a variety of tools to keep less than useful emotions at bay. Do they work all of the time? No. Do some drive me crazy (like audible alerts when I’m deep in thought)? Heck, yes! Do I get bored with some? Of course. Do I need to change things up when I become immune and start ignoring them or they no longer help? That’s where experimenting comes in. And for a brain that is easily bored or distracted, keeping things fresh is imperative.
Now I’m wondering if you also find starting “your week” on a different day discombobulating? Or maybe it’s the switch between daylight savings time and standard time that throws you off? Or traveling between different time zones? Or getting back into flow after holidays or vacations? Routines, no matter how dull, are helpful to keep us steady and productive. I suspect that these diversions are inconvenient for those identifying as neurotypical. For neurodiverse brains, deviations from the norm can range from unwieldy to calamitous. When life goes off the rails, here are avenues to restart which may or may not work. Explore options to find what works for you, and to keep it fresh.
