I’ve been stuck in my house a lot recently, like everyone else, because of Covid 19. Stress levels have been high but things have been opening up a bit more which is so encouraging. I’ve had so many things on my mind that I know I need to do — all those “to dos” that I just haven’t done. Granted, some I could have done with all this time stuck in the house but others required me to get out of the house. If you know me, you know I often talk of these things as my “tolerations.” Tolerations are all those tasks that you know you need to do but you don’t feel like doing them. They weigh us down; I say they contribute to our mental load, for sure. But when we take action, we reduce our stress greatly.
I Needed To Take Action
Last week I was determined to knock out some tolerations. First, I took 10 minutes and wrote down everything that I needed to do. Some of the things were: scheduling appointments (dentist, ortho appts, well visits, doctors), lab work, school paperwork, Ellie’s wheelchair fixed, PT scheduled, phone calls returned, pharmacy, new glasses, workout benchmark class, order birthday gifts, send thank you notes, work to-dos, hair, nails, researching projects, etc. The list was long and the more I wrote, the more stressed I started to feel. But I’ve done this enough to know that this is normal and it will get better once I take some action. So I took a second, acknowledged that’s it is ok, took a great big exhale and kept writing and writing.
I then made a conscious decision that I was going to tackle some of these tolerations the next day. I locked myself in my office and asked for no interruptions and went to work. It’s amazing how much one can accomplish when you put your cell phone away, limit distractions, get intentional and get to work. I then got in my car and banged out some in person tolerations too. I could feel my stress reducing and it felt so good at the end of the day to cross off some of those tolerations. My stress went way down after I accomplished some of those things. And the truth is, many of the items didn’t even take too long. I often wonder why I let the list get so long…
When It Comes to Ellie
I always have an “Ellie tolerations” list where her things take a lot more time than the other kids. Her stuff really weighs on me so I went after the Ellie list with zest too. In one week, she got her well visit in, her wheelchair fixed and a PT appointment. I also did a lot of overdue paperwork for her that I had to do. I feel so good starting the school year with some of her much needed “to-do’s” done. Here’s a picture of us down at CHOP and Ellie was in her glory. After another difficult surgery this summer, she was loving this type of non-invasive appointment where they were just fixing her wheels. 
Now It’s Your Turn to Tackle Your Tolerations
As we are approaching September and potentially “back to school” (whatever that means this year), take a few minutes to start banging out some of your tolerations. You’ll feel so much better, I promise.
Join the Free 30 Day Balancing Boldly Self-Care Challenge
I am launching my 1st ever 30 Day Balancing Boldly Self-Care Challenge starting in September and I’d love to have you join in. We will definitely tackle this topic of tolerations and focus on getting stuff done, reducing stress and reduce your mental load as that is all part of self-care. If interested in this free challenge, be sure to sign up here. If you commit to 30 days, you will see positive change in your life.
