Summing up the winter challenge and some news

Hello again! I felt that after a month of pushing through the winter challenge, it was worth taking time to reflect on how it went, especially on that final challenge of spring cleaning your home. I also wanted to share some changes that have been going on here, which may require a shift in the content (but hopefully not).

First, the news

I’m actually writing this from outside my home state. My father-in-law is terminally ill, and we received a call a few weeks ago that his condition was getting worse and we should visit. Unfortunately, our home state is in lockdown for Covid-19, and the borders between us and the in-laws is shut.

We had to do a lot of paperwork and push pretty hard on a very clunky government system in order to be given our travel exemption. It’s been incredibly hard to plan, as we didn’t know whether we would be given permission to travel at all, or what conditions might be attached to that. After a stressful fortnight, we received permission earlier than we expected. A mad scramble to pack, find a sitter for our pot plants and pet bird, hold mail and cancel appointments ensued. Two Covid tests (gag) and a long road trip later, I’m sitting in the old family home starting 14 days of strict quarantine.

Apart from the strain of not being allowed out of the house for 14 days, we’re also here because my father-in-law is dying. Both of us will be losing our fathers within a year of each other. I feel I can barely offer any support to my husband, as I’m still struggling to pull myself out of my own grief. Being away from my own space for what could be many months is also difficult. Mental health appointments will have to be done over Zoom, which I find a poor substitute for such involved and personal conversations.

All that said, I’m sure this will be a time where we are offered great chances to grow in strength and love. I hope we will respond to these openings. Besides, with two weeks of a completely empty social calendar, there won’t even be an evening walk to pull me away from writing on Waiting for Olives. Don’t worry, I’ll be making time to walk laps of the backyard to stay sane.

Reflecting on the winter challenge

Okay, enough about such serious topics. Let’s have a little reflection on how we went over the last four weeks. Remember, you can always recap on the challenge posts here, here, here and here.

Starting this challenge really helped pull me out of a pretty bad slump. I loved that my morning routine took on a healthier shape, and that I was able to start the work day having completed prayer, a walk and eaten a good breakfast. While some days are a huge struggle, mostly I have come to enjoy the quiet of the early morning, when I can slowly wake up with my thoughts and reflect on the day ahead.

The evening routine was also really good. I’ve reduced my phone usage to an hour a day! I’m really surprised by how much impact those small changes have made, but I’ve noticed so much benefit from being on my phone less. My mind has been sparking off new ideas more often, I’ve finished more books and find myself getting through things that I didn’t think I had time for. Having an outfit laid out each morning and a healthy breakfast already prepared has also been an amazing time save.

The little challenge of push ups has been rewarding. I’m still slowly building, as I feel behind last week. But I am noticing better core strength already. I hope your challenge has been equally fun and that you’re seeing improvements in whatever area you challenged yourself.

Finally, the spring cleaning. Now, given our sudden departure, I wasn’t able to give this week of the challenge my full attention. That said, I did manage to spring clean my linen and bathroom cupboards. I also cleaned out all my sewing and craft things which was so satisfying. Why did I save so many tiny pieces of fabric? Before we left, I also gave the whole house a clean, so that’s something. When I get back I’m looking forward to cleaning behind appliances and doing a thorough wardrobe clean and sort.

Habit and routine give us the framework to do great things

Habit and routine get a bad rap. They don’t sound exciting, like ‘adventure’ or ‘spontaneous’. We tend to focus on our bad habits, or how boring we think our daily grind is. But I think this challenge has shown us how important good habits and routine really are.

Creating good habits around my morning and evenings has freed me from making decisions. I know what I have to wear and eat already. I don’t have to scramble for my prayer books because they’re already there, along with my water bottle. Habits around my phone had been wonderful, and without that routine of putting it away, I’d still be burning hours of my day without realising it. Even the simple act of adding one push up each day has enabled me to do more than I ever have before.

Those are small things, but they lead to greater things. If you can get yourself to do more push ups, you can get yourself to tackle even bigger challenges, one step at a time. Cliche, I know but true.

 Take, for instance, my mad rush to get to another state during Covid restrictions. Luckily, I have a habit of keeping the house clean and my belongings organised. It was much easier to pack up the house on short notice when everything was ready to hand. The success of the ‘sponateous’ trip really depended on all the habits and routines we already had in place.

Build yourself better with baby steps

I just had to use the alliteration there, sorry if it was a tongue twister. But take this as your ongoing challenge: get better a little bit at a time. You don’t have to fix everything at once. Just take on one little thing, fix that and move on to the next. Making these incremental steps will be easier and more successful in the long run. So go forth an conquer your Everest, one small step at a time.