Rhianna Jones
As a self-confessed type 1, perfectionist personality – I find being a Mum really hard. As well as having a constantly increasing to-do list, trying to remember everything for PE day or a nursery day out, we still have to do all the every day jobs and ‘adult’ to make sure everything functions in the household. With my youngest starting nursery last week, I’m actually finding it almost harder to constantly change roles from cook, to cleaner, to Mum, to wife, to work mode, gym mode and everything else!
To help support myself with this, I’m experimenting this week with sensory cues to help me change from one mode to another. I realised that as someone who loves to exercise – I’m awful at working out at home, but pop me in a gym and I exercise for longer, harder and enjoy it so much more. The act of putting on my gym clothes, going to a different venue and being in that environment makes such a huge difference to me so I wanted to see how I can apply this to other areas of my life.
Working – When working I have been listening to Binaural Beats which is like a music that creates a sensory illusion and helps you to focus. As something who primarily works at home, I’ve also purchased some ‘slippers’ that are more like shoes to make me feel more put together and professional as opposed to working in fluffy boots.
Cleaning – As a child, I always listening to the Backstreets back album when I cleaned my room so I’ll either hack my brain and listen to this or I’ll use body doubling and watch a Youtube video of something else cleaning their house – I can’t believe how much this helps me even if I’m just listening to it as I potter around. I also start by using my current favourite spray to clean down counters in the room that I’m in. It might sometimes seem counterintuitive as I might end up having to wipe down again but the smell really helps me to get into cleaning mode.
Relaxing – Depending on how I feel I’ll pick a scent that will relax me often one of my candles, a citrus essential oil, or the perfume I wore on my wedding day. Naturally I also get into my cosy uniform (leggings and a loose t-shirt). Even if I know I need to go out, I’ll get changed a few times in the day to help me be in the right mindset for what I’m doing.
Exercise – As I mentioned, for me, I need to be in the gym to get a good workout. I’ve got some workout clothes that I love, a great punk rock playlist and then the atmosphere of the gym does the rest for me.
These are some of things that work for me but it doesn’t need to be complicated – you could put on an apron while you cook or even just getting in the habit of tying your hair up can signal to your brain that it’s time to get down to business.
