Building Restful Routines

(air whooshes) (gentle music) This next question is from Frida and Frida's asking us about preparing for a leave of absence. I was wondering, how can I establish healthy routines and boundaries during my leave to support my recovery and prepare for a successful return to work? Thanks. Hey, Frida. I love that you are intentionally asking a question that leads toward you making the most use out of your leave time. I really appreciate that, because what that shows me is that you are, during this time, really, really prioritizing yourself, which means when it's time to go back to work, you will have already created the habit and intentionality of putting yourself first. So, that is what I would suggest, keep doing what you're doing. Starting with this question, keep doing what you're doing. One thing that you might do as you continue to prepare is think about creating a compassionate, consistent schedule for yourself. So, sometimes when we are on vacation or we're not off at work, like we turn our alarms off, we literally just start letting the day tell us what to do, right? But because you are preparing yourself to return back to work healthy, whole, and ready for some sort of sustainable, boundaried (chuckles) schedule, I would start with a compassionate schedule. That means looking at your morning routine, how you wake up, is it mindful? Do you have a routine that you do every single morning that feels really, really good to you? It doesn't have to feel rushed. And then, going throughout the day, setting time blocks for the different things that you do throughout the day, making sure you give yourself time for breaks, breathers, healthy lunch, water, all of the things that you need to keep in mind when you return to work. And then, when you get ready for bed, make sure you have a healthy nighttime routine. We cannot survive if we are not sleeping. So, start building a healthy nighttime routine right now. That might look like shutting down the phone an hour or two before bed, not having any screen time, maybe having a little sleepy time tea, a little tea, whatever tea you like, I like a little sleepy time tea, (laughs) having whatever tea you like to really let the brain know we are shutting down and we are shutting down gracefully so that when it's time to go to sleep, it'll be ready. And then you just do that every single day, every single day, building in safety, so when you go back to work, you will be able to set boundaries around your routine. So, those are my suggestions, and I hope, Frida, and anybody else who is transitioning back into work after leave, that those answers were helpful. And if you want some more guidance, check out the Mindfulness at Work Collection in our Headspace app....