Fellas How Y’all Feel? Sisters Y’all Alright?
Once I realized that we were going to be home longer than two weeks due to Covid I created a schedule for myself so I could use my time wisely and to feel like I was being productive. The schedule consisted of the following (in no particular order): journaling + reading, work (emails + lesson planning), brain storm for blog, and lastly (as well as least important on the totem pole) exercise. However, after being consist with my schedule for weeks I found last week’s events overshadowing everything.
By midweek I felt as unproductive as I had at the beginning of my city’s stay at home order and I initially blamed myself for being so lax. I had made many strides in both my personal and professional life thanks to my schedule and I felt as if everything came to a halt. And that’s because everything had indeed come to an halt and was replaced with feeling overwhelmed. Last week was filled with feelings of retraumatization every time I scrolled on social media and anxiousness as my school made progress towards a reopening plan which includes students seldom being in the school building. Last week I was TIRED. TIRED OF RACISM. TIRED OF COVID. TIRED OF AMERICA AND HER NEVER ENDING BS. But this week, I am making the decision to pour back into myself and my well being because happiness is also a part of the revolution.
I use lists to hold myself accountable and I use them for everything from grocery shopping to life goals. I find power in words and even more power when they are written so below is my list of things I’ll be doing this week to return to being centered as well as to continue to make strides towards being a whole individual.
To Do List: 1. Start back journaling in my Becoming by Michelle Obama journal 2. Watch What Happened to Malcolm X and Just Mercy 3. Spend some hours in the park drinking a cafe au lait 4. Begin reading Angela Davis's autobiography 5. Try to cook two new recipes (S/o to the Food Network app) 6. Spend one hour a day minimum without technology
Will I accomplish everything on my list this week? Maybe not but at the minimum I’ll have a blueprint for the week and I’ll be taking the steps to move from simply consuming all of things around me to taking some of my power back. If you’re ready to reclaim some of your time this week, try listing several things you want to accomplish by the end of the week and pour some energy back into yourself.