Survival plan.

Things in life tend to get hectic occasionally. The beginning of the dancing season in August means there's plenty to do at work, all days go by serving live customers and being in a frantic rush. The shop at the end of the day looks like a tornado has hit it, I haven't had time to do any of the "extra" things I was "supposed" to do, there's bills to be paid and orders to be made and people to be contacted and I feel exhausted.

It'll only last until people are nicely settled into their normal dance-class routines, and then it's time to breathe again, and things will get back to a more dealable pace. But until that breath of fresh air shows itself from around the corner, something needs to be done, and things need to be put in order. 

So I've figured in order to survive, and in order to enjoy even the frantic days of this life, there has to be a survival plan. And here's what my plan looks like (I try to learn to live by it, slowly):

*Sleep.

Simply put - the brain will not have enough bandwidth to work on if it's running out of steam before you even begin your day. Getting enough sleep means even on the hectic days your brain will still have power to think straight.

*Eat.

Plenty of veggies and one or two warm meals a day. Snacks and breakfast and evening things. Consistent flow of decent energy keeps you in much of a better mood and makes you being able to function.

*Be.

Just breathing for a while without doing anything extra will help just that little bit. It'll give you space to get your head around things and to see things in the right light. It can be called anything you wish. Meditation, prayer, me-time, fishing - you name it. Or it doesn't have to have a name. Just be.

*Move.

Exercise of any kind will make you think of other things and not concentrate on how stressed you are. It'll make you think of yourself and of how you feel. It'll ground you towards gravity and remind you of who you really are. 

*Love.

Being with the people and beings and things that you love obviously gives you comfort and fun times socially, but it also is rewarding to simply love. To be giving something of yourself to someone or something and not expecting a return. To show support and respect. And if you're into the religious in life, this goes with that too - loving your neighbour, loving your God. Spending time with things that are important in life. Giving yourself to the things and beings you love and being grateful for them.

*Simplify.

When everything else in life gets messy and out of control, a clear table top will make all the difference. It'll give you hope to know that simple things can be found anywhere, and they can be made everywhere. Simplifying requires some energy, but the energy you get as a reward of simplifying something that needs to be simplified will be enough to not only fill the void it left behind but to top up some of the remaining need for energy with an added bonus of some calm feelings. And simplifying goes as well for your table tops as for your finances, for your relationships as well as for your bookshelf. The less random thoughts everything around you creates and forces you to take action and to be a part of itself, the more you will have space in your bandwidth to decide whether you really want to be a part of it or not. If the hallway table speaks to you every time you walk past it requiring you to clean it up, perhaps it's time you took action and quieted it once and for all. Keeping the table clear means one less thing to stress about when things get hectic.

Looking at the survival plan I realise these are the things that are needed in life anyway. It might be a survival plan to get through the hectic days, but at the same time it's a survival plan for life. Without food, rest, exercise, compassion and some time without stress life could not go on for long without it influencing our lives in a fairly bad way.

And although the plan seems quite vague, and is full of things everybody knows are needed in life, it serves as a reminder of what's really important (and I for one tend to forget them when things get hectic). What's best is when the really important things are in order, there's space and time and energy for the not-so-important too.

This is what I need to remember.

Anjusha