Staying Sane During A Crisis

Structure has allowed us to build our lives around central activities like work or school or raising a family. Structure brings routines, rhythm & predictability which reduces stress, anxiety & brings stability in our lives. The pandemic has caused havoc in our lives & disrupted our lives greatly. Finding a new structure/schedule will bring back some form of balance in our lives and promote wellbeing. Dr. Gina discusses simple strategies you can implement today to get you started.

Transcript

Welcome to Living Simply,

A guide to mindful living and mindful parenting with your host,

Dr.

Gina.

Hey,

Everybody.

Welcome to Living Simply with Dr.

Gina Madrigano.

My name is Ben Barber.

I'm the producer of the show,

One of the producers of the show.

And here is Dr.

Gina.

Dr.

Gina,

How are you today?

I'm doing good,

Ben.

And how about you?

I'm doing wonderful.

You know what's funny is that you always,

We've started the podcast like that for a year,

And you've always said it kind of sounds a little disingenuous because it's not,

You know,

Like we've been talking beforehand and stuff.

Now it's live.

So it's really real.

And let's bring on your co-host for the show,

Crystal.

Hey,

Crystal,

Crystal Tubbs,

Who doesn't feel like putting her last name into the display name category.

I will next time.

I'm sorry.

So thank you very much for that,

Crystal.

Okay.

So how are you,

Crystal?

Good.

I'm doing good.

And I have to take a moment to say that I love the new graphic for the show.

Oh,

Hey,

Thanks.

I made that five minutes ago.

Nice.

Well done.

Thanks.

So today we're talking about creating a daily schedule to stay sane during COVID-19.

So obviously all of us have been sort of cooped up in the house or wherever we may have been when we got here two months ago.

And today we're talking about how to stay sane.

Is it the 11th?

Yeah.

So it's like two months exactly since the world exploded,

Basically,

Here in America at least.

So,

Yeah,

How did you guys come up with this topic for today's episode first?

Well,

We had our last podcast and we mentioned schedule in there and Crystal was like,

Yeah,

I think we need to talk about that.

And I agree with her because I'm still struggling with it.

My friends of mine are still struggling with it.

So I thought she had a great idea.

I'm still struggling with it.

It's the one question I didn't get to ask last time.

What about setting up a schedule?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I had a phone call this morning with somebody who's a really successful guy.

And I called him and he was like,

Hey,

Yeah,

We're having a formal breakfast.

It's the one thing we do every day.

I'll call you back.

And I was like,

Cool.

That's amazing.

So,

Yeah,

Everybody has.

So before we talk about how to create a schedule for yourself,

What schedule,

If any,

Have you guys been on?

Gina,

Let's start with you.

Well,

I keep changing mine every week and testing one thing and another.

But if I'd say in the last 10 days,

We've decided to put self-care as the first thing in the morning.

So we do a bit of elliptical.

I'm starting this new program.

It's how to improve our eye vision naturally.

So it's a 20-day program.

I'm doing that in the morning,

Which takes up about 45 minutes.

Some yoga.

We have a nice breakfast.

And then we try to figure out the rest of the day.

But at least that routine is pretty stable for now.

I am terrible at setting routines.

Just awful.

I am working on getting up a little earlier so I can do kind of more stuff in the morning and then focus on some other projects in the afternoon.

But the morning,

I want to do some yoga,

Maybe take my dog for a walk,

Eat breakfast,

That kind of thing.

Yeah,

That makes sense.

So that's how you guys are starting your day.

Most of the,

I guess I'll go too.

That makes sense,

Right?

Yeah,

Ben,

How are you starting your day?

Early.

So right now I've been in charge of distance learning five days a week,

Four days a week,

And then Sundays as well.

Not distance learning,

But still.

So I'm getting up before 7 every morning and taking care of a five-year-old,

Which is wonderful because he does not let you not stay in the moment.

And then it's actually been really nice because I've been very busy the last two months.

And from home,

I mean mostly from this chair,

I've been very busy.

But it's been nice because I would maybe want to sleep in until 9 or 10,

If not for that.

And that's been a really nice reason to get up every morning and get going and make sure that he has breakfast.

It's nice.

So that's kind of how I've been starting my day.

What are some of the difficulties that you guys have found for not having structure in the rest of the day?

I know that you're trying to create a schedule for yourself,

But for not having it the way that you normally would have.

Not having the work schedule that you normally would have,

Not having going out and doing things like you normally would have.

What have been some of the struggles that you've had with that?

Well,

Paradoxically,

It's weird because I've been wanting this time off for a while.

And now that I have it,

I'm turning in circles.

And I think it's different from a holiday because when it's a holiday,

You're like,

Yeah,

I'm not going to do anything.

But technically,

It's work.

It's my work week.

And I don't have a lot of work.

And I think work is what brought schedule to the rest of my days.

So work was scheduled,

You know,

Seeing clients.

And I'd work my day around that.

And I realized that's what brought structure to my day because I'd work around it.

So I knew my time was limited from this time to that time.

But now it's like,

Oh,

I have all day.

And I think that's a trap because then you get caught up in one thing after another.

And I have this big list and I don't get to it.

So I really had to create a semblance of a work schedule.

But instead of being client work,

It's self-care.

And then we work our day around that.

That makes sense.

Crystal?

So I'll be completely honest with our watchers here and listeners for the podcast.

I have been trying to create a schedule since probably January.

I got let go from my job in January.

There just wasn't enough work to keep me on.

It wasn't anything terrible.

And one of the things that's really kind of kept me from maybe creating the schedule that I really want is like a super inconsistent sleep schedule.

And so I don't do well on like a lack of sleep almost any time.

And so it makes it really challenging if I can't get to sleep until like,

You know,

One or two in the morning and I want to get up at six or I want to get up at seven.

Like I just I need to sleep until eight or something,

You know,

Just to make sure that I have enough mental capacity and energy to make it through the rest of the day.

Sure.

So,

Dr.

Gina,

You talked about work being the basis for your schedule and sort of the foundation that everything else was built off of.

Now that a lot of people are not having that or work is different and now it's just you need to get all of your work done.

But it doesn't really matter when you do it.

You know,

There are no rules.

What's a good way to create a structure to build a schedule for yourself in this new environment?

So I'm going to sound like a broken record to those who listen to the podcast.

It all comes down to priorities based on what matters to you.

So you got to sit down and decide based on your values.

So regarding work,

Self-care,

Family,

What matters most and then put priorities on those.

So let's on a scale of one to ten and base your schedule around that,

Knowing you can't do it all.

So that's why for us,

We started with self-care,

Because especially right now,

If we're not healthy,

Everything's going to go downhill.

So making it a priority to go to bed.

So for us is lights out by 10 so that I can be up at around 637.

So sleep will dictate the schedule of the day,

Obviously,

And healthy breakfast and meals.

So then our meals.

And then if I don't work out in the morning,

I'm not going to do it.

So that's plopped in the schedule.

So basically it's deciding what your priorities are,

What's most important,

And then schedule it accordingly.

And obviously based on if you have kids or not,

If you're working or not,

Then we can go into the details after.

But I'd say a good place to start is based on your values and what matters to you.

And that will dictate how much time and what you do in a day.

Makes sense to me.

It would solve your sleep issue.

Well,

Even if I go to bed,

It's just I'm awake.

It's not that I don't go to bed earlier.

Sometimes I'm just laying in bed awake for four hours.

So,

Yeah,

That's a different issue.

Yeah,

That's another episode on sleep hygiene.

Sounds good.

Great.

So let's talk about that.

Let's talk about the stress and anxiety that can.

So and that is not necessarily what Crystal's issue is,

Although she can comment on that if she chooses.

But,

You know,

A lot of people are having trouble sleeping right now.

And a lot of people are having trouble sort of functioning in their day to day lives because of fear and anxiety.

And you can let an hour or nine get away from you real quick.

You know,

Or or if you're Glenn Ambrose always talks about numbing down,

Like with with like the video games or binging a TV show or something,

You know.

So if you were it's hard to create a schedule if you're sort of numbing out by by by doing that because you don't have much of anything to do.

You know,

How is so how is fear and anxiety affecting people's schedules right now?

Well,

I think it is affecting it a lot.

And the last episode we were talking about how to focus on what you can control.

And that's why also we talked about schedules.

The one thing we can control is our schedule.

And by creating routines,

Rituals,

Rhythms,

We get that sense of control back and that will greatly reduce anxiety.

And if we get control of our situation,

Then we feel less the need to numb out because we all know if we sit in front of TV or computer,

Social media,

Doesn't matter.

We really lose track of time.

And if we don't create a schedule ahead of time,

So it doesn't have to be scheduled by the minute.

We use a lot of mental energy to create that schedule on a day to day basis.

And then it just feeds the anxiety because we you know,

Our frontal lobe is working over time.

And then again,

We lose track of time.

We don't know what to do.

We can't think straight.

So if we can create a schedule,

Rhythms,

Rituals,

That's a big chunk of our life.

It will greatly reduce that sense of anxiety and lack of control.

Yeah.

Yeah,

Absolutely.

So Crystal,

Did you have any specific questions since this was your,

You know,

Your issue that you that you thought we should explore?

Was there something specific that you were that you're struggling with in this?

I mean,

Outside of the sleep thing.

No,

I don't.

I think,

You know,

I wonder if maybe I blame other things more,

You know,

Like,

Oh,

Well,

If only this didn't happen,

Then I'd have time for that.

Like,

How do we kind of stop maybe that mentality or make sure that we are,

You know,

Putting enough hours into the day to do the things that we want to do?

Like,

How do we determine those priorities?

So,

Well,

If you,

When I'll start backwards,

Once you determine your priorities,

And whether people make requests on you or you get scattered,

You're like,

Oh,

I should do this,

That,

Which is my problem.

We take time to be present and go,

Okay,

One,

Is this part of my priorities list and do I really want to do this or is it going to cause me more anxiety?

So if you get really,

Really clear on what you want your days to look like,

Then it's easier to say yes or no to things.

So how to determine your priority example for you,

You got let go,

But I think you're still working,

Right?

Yeah,

I'm still doing a little bit of work.

Yeah,

And is that work on a specific schedule or you get to decide your schedule?

Well,

I don't have any work currently,

But when I do,

I decide my schedule.

Okay,

Perfect.

So you have a lot of flexibility,

Right?

So how do you determine your priorities?

Start with the basics,

Where if you think of health,

Work,

Education,

Spirituality,

Family,

If you have a partner,

If you have kids,

Where would you locate,

What are your top three?

Top three?

Yeah.

Where you want to invest a lot of time?

Probably health,

Family,

I don't know,

Kind of a toss up maybe between business and spirituality.

Okay,

So if we start with health,

Because health is important,

If you're sick,

You can't do all the other things.

Well,

You can be spiritual,

Sick in a bed,

But if we put health,

What does health look like for you?

What does it mean for you to be healthy?

Oh,

Um,

And actions,

Basically.

I'm able to do the things I want to do when I want to do them.

Like I have a lot of family members who can't go hiking or can barely walk down the street basically,

And I'm like,

That's not the kind of health I want to have in the future.

So how do you want to stay healthy behavior-wise?

So if we think of,

There's food,

Sleep,

So nutrition,

Sleep,

And exercise.

So sleep,

How many hours do you want?

Like seven,

Eight hours?

Yeah,

Like eight.

Okay,

So you're going to determine,

They say before midnight is good sleep.

So let's say you pick a time you want to go to sleep.

So you have your seven,

Eight hours of sleep.

And then what that means is an hour or two before your bedtime,

You need to have a bedtime routine.

So how do you unwind,

You know,

Turn off screens,

The lights.

So that will take up one or two hours of your time where you don't want to start doing work because it'll rev you up.

Right.

So let's say moving.

What kind of movement,

Whether it's exercise,

Yoga,

Running,

Walking?

Probably,

Well,

Yoga.

I like yoga a lot.

Make sure to walk my dogs.

I like hiking.

So then you can,

Let's say you like hiking.

How many times a week do you want to do that?

At least once a week.

I don't live super close to the mountains.

So you could schedule that.

Let's speculate.

You schedule hiking Sundays because it's your day off.

If your health matters to you,

You're going to determine how many days a week you want to work out.

So there's the yoga that's good for stretching,

For being present.

Will that be your main form of exercise?

The other days of the week?

Yeah.

Probably yoga and walking my dog.

Okay.

So again,

Walking your dog.

Do you want to walk your dog once a day,

Twice a day,

Three times?

Once a day.

Okay.

So then you're going to determine when in the day you want to walk your dog and for how long.

So you'll schedule that in your routine,

Right?

So you've got walking every day,

Yoga.

You'll determine how many days a week.

So if you can plug those into your week at specific times.

Those have to be the same time every day,

But you schedule them and then you stick to it the way you would stick to a medical appointment.

And then you work your other stuff around those things.

So then you determine spirituality.

What is spirituality for you?

What does it look like?

Is it about organized religion,

Like going to church or synagogue?

Is it about reading?

Is it about meditating?

Is it about walking in nature?

So the way you'll determine your values is how do your values look like in behaviors?

And then how do you want to schedule those behaviors or include them in your life?

So I say schedule,

But it doesn't have to be.

.

.

Like rigid.

Yeah,

Exactly.

It doesn't have to be rigid.

Like as long as I do it today,

Well,

One day you could do it at six,

The other day at noon,

At one midnight,

Doesn't matter.

But your values determine your priorities.

And if you get clear on the behaviors these values require,

Then you'll have a better idea of the time commitment that you need.

So if the mountain is far away and it's an hour drive,

You might not be able to do that every day.

So that will determine the frequency.

And then same with family.

You said family matters.

So how do you want to connect with family?

Is it over the phone,

In person?

You know,

Even if you're social distancing,

Are you going to meet up somewhere?

So the time it's going to require,

How many times a week you want to do that.

Then it gives you some direction on where you want to,

What kind of choices you want to make on a day to day basis.

Does it make sense?

Yeah.

I've never thought about it that specifically.

So that's probably one of the reasons I wasn't doing very well.

Yeah,

When it's vague,

It's hard to get direction because we don't know where we're headed,

Right?

It's like on a map,

You pick a town and you're headed towards that town.

There are many roads to that town.

But,

You know,

If you fly,

You drive,

You walk,

You bike.

So it's the same if you get really clear on the values and the behaviors that will allow these values to be manifested.

Then it will bring a lot more clarity on how to organize your schedule.

Makes sense.

And also,

As far as organizing goes,

You know,

The cliche,

What gets measured gets managed.

You know,

If you're taking into account how much time,

What your priorities are,

How much time you have for things and what you want.

You know,

I have a friend who constantly has talked about,

You know,

Non-COVID times has talked about,

Like,

I don't have time for this or stressed about the time or,

You know,

Stressed about the time with loved ones.

And I was like,

You know,

You have,

Like,

Let's do the math on this.

And let's do the math for everybody right now.

So there's 24 hours in a day and there's seven days a week.

That's 168 hours,

Okay?

Now,

If you work 40 hours a week,

That's 128 hours.

Now,

If you sleep eight hours a day,

Eight times seven is 56,

128 minus 56 is 72 hours.

So there's 72 hours a week that you're not sleeping and you're not working.

And that's more time than you either sleep or work.

Right.

Is the extra time.

What you do with that extra time is what you make a priority of,

You know?

So when you're looking at a schedule and you're looking at something,

Yeah,

You got a grocery shop that's going to take a couple hours a week.

You have to make food.

That's going to take a couple hours a week.

You have to,

But you have to decide what you want to do,

You know?

Like,

If you don't want to spend time with friends,

You're not going to be making time to spend time with friends.

If that's something that's a priority,

Then you're going to put that on your schedule.

And schedules don't need to be strict and rigid completely.

But if you're having an issue with it and you're,

And you're,

And you know,

It's a problem for you,

Then taking account of that 72 hours in your week that isn't sleep and isn't work and is really your time to do with whatever the hell you want,

Then really it's about what you want to do and what you're willing to prioritize and what you value.

So I think that everything that Dr.

Gina just said was really great in regards to how to go,

Okay,

I want to hike,

But I live an hour away from the mountain,

So I'm not going to be able to do that every day.

But I can do that on Sundays and I can take my dog for a walk once a day and I can make it a nice walk and it'll be like our little hike.

You know,

So those sorts of things I think are really important.

Sorry,

Was that okay?

It was totally fine.

I just feel like I'm in like a session for myself and I'm like,

I hope this is helpful for other people too.

Yeah,

For sure.

Like I find,

Like we're doing a pretty big quick summary of it,

But I find even with my clients,

We even to determine your priorities,

We look at a year,

A whole year,

We break it down in quarters,

Especially like the three of us are self-employed where we can't do it all.

So it's like,

Okay,

What am I going to,

Then we break it down.

What do I want to do for the next three months?

And then we only break it down to like four goals.

And those four goals direct our schedule.

And again,

Those four goals,

Four targets are based on our values.

So if you have a whole,

A big picture of the year,

What you want to accomplish this year,

And then you break it down,

And then you break it down for the week.

So we break it down,

Down,

Down,

Then you get more clarity.

So for someone who really doesn't know,

We do that big process together.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

So let's talk about non-COVID times.

So obviously the subject of this was how to create a schedule during this time,

During the pandemic.

But I mean,

All of the same rules apply,

Right?

Outside of this.

Like I just,

My entire spiel a minute ago was,

It doesn't matter if there's,

You know,

If you're,

So if you're not working 40 hours a week,

Then you don't have 72 hours.

You have,

You know,

112 hours to do whatever you want to do.

What are you doing with that time?

Yeah.

The only thing that's different now,

It's not because it's COVID,

It's because suddenly our regular life has changed.

So it's adapting to change and readjusting our schedule.

But the rules apply whether it's COVID or not.

Like you said,

It's the same thing.

It's just,

Okay,

I need to turn around now.

What do I do?

No different than people who were single and suddenly they're married.

They have to readjust their life or suddenly they have a child.

So our life is a constant of change,

Except this one we didn't choose and we've had to turn around and adjust.

So this one was not in our control,

Whereas other times it is.

But it's no different if you get laid off,

If someone gets sick,

Someone dies,

Suddenly our priorities change and we have to shuffle things around.

Absolutely.

So Dr.

Gina,

You recently teamed up with our good friend Glenn Ambrose to come up with Peace in a Pandemic,

Navigating Your Way Through the COVID-19 Crisis,

An eight-part series.

So this is a course that can be found at your website.

And can you tell us a little bit about Peace in a Pandemic?

Yes.

So there's eight video lessons in there with myself and Glenn,

Who's an international life coach.

And we cover a whole bunch of topics,

How to cope with the anxiety and the fear.

There's spirituality,

Adjusting to the situation and a whole bunch of other topics that apply again to the pandemic,

But strategies will prove useful even after this is over.

So that's the beauty of this course is it's evergreen and people can still use the strategies even after the pandemic is over.

Awesome.

And Crystal,

You want to get in a plug while we're here?

Oh,

Yeah,

Sure.

So my company is Brave and Bold Writer.

And right now I'm helping companies kind of transition to a more online space,

Whether that's a shop to sell your goods or just a website so people can find you.

I'm helping co-host lives if you're interested.

So,

Yeah,

I'm available if you need anything like that.

Awesome.

And for Dr.

Gina,

You can find all of her stuff at drmadrigrano.

Com.

Gina,

You know,

If people want to contact you,

What do you usually talk to them about?

What are some of the things that you deal with now online?

And moving to this sort of telehealth version of health care with a lot of mental health,

You know,

Talking to patients via Zoom and other sort of encrypted things like that.

Yeah,

The whole system we use is all encrypted,

So it's safe.

My specialty is anxiety and parenting.

And I work a lot like we've touched the topic today on self-care and value-based living.

So they're all connected.

And those are,

You know,

Transformational coaching,

Which includes the values and self-care.

And I do that online and in person,

But not now.

But later.

But later,

Yes.

All right.

Well,

Thank you both.

Thank you,

Crystal.

Thank you,

Ben.

Thanks,

Ben.

Oh,

You're welcome.

And thank you,

Dr.

Gina.

Have a great day.

You too.

Reviews

This was pleasant and helpful. Thank you so much 😊

Very helpful ideas and tips, thank you all. Love and blessings 💖 x