The first step

Last week, I felt very depressed (it was likely just PMS, but if you know, you know).

I had no energy, no willpower to do anything, even (especially?) things that were good for me.

I know myself now, and I know what lifts my mood. But most things felt too hard.

So I took a moment to ask myself this question, which I think could help many of you take the first step in the right direction:

“What is one tiny thing that you have enough energy to do, and that would make you feel better?”

For example, I knew yoga would help. But I had zero mental energy for it. So I looked for something smaller.

I decided to go for a short walk in the park. It doesn’t take much energy, and I know being in nature and moving always improves my mood.

While I was walking, I could feel my stress level lowering. So I used that extra energy to do something a bit bigger: writing to a friend.

That lifted my mood even more, so I did something even bigger when I got back home: I checked out a work task.

It made me feel accomplished, so I found the strength to do a workout.

And then my mood was back to normal.

My point here is that our mood, our energy isn’t all or nothing.

When you are feeling so down that you can’t get yourself out of that slump, look for the thing that would cost the lowest effort. And build on that.

Each little step in the right direction will give you a bit more energy, a bit more confidence that you can get out of this dark tunnel.

And all those little steps will compound and end up being a whole lot of self-care :)

If you are reading this and nodding your head, and would like some support to make it fit your unique situation, I'd love to help.

You can reply to this email with a few words about you, or answer these few questions. I'll come back to you asap, and we can see if we're the right fit.

Om, peace 🧡

Clem

PS: if you regularly struggle with getting started because you don't have the capacity to do it all, . I share some techniques that will help :)