So I’m in the process of transitioning to nights for a work project, and I’ve haven’t done this type of schedule in almost 4 years! I was a bit apprehensive as to whether I’d be feeling sick or have headaches… this isn’t a 20-something-year-old body you know. But so far so good, being that’s it only a few days in.
As I flip flop things in my normal schedule like taking timed meds and supplements, I also have to figure out when is the most conducive time for me to meditate.
I had to check myself and not get discouraged because good sleep overrides everything else I’m doing.
So I reviewed how many hours I need to feel good, and remember that I’ll either be getting things done after shift and before sleep, or after sleep before shift, which is technically what I’d be doing on a daytime schedule anyway. Reframe!
On the second day, I got up around 3:00 pm because I couldn’t sleep anymore, even though I was telling myself, just rest your body.
I made the conscious choice to just be still and feel into my breath, reciting to self, there’s no hurry to be anywhere but here, right now, just this. And I allowed my breathing to slow a bit, focusing more on how the breath felt moving through different parts of my body, inside AND outside of the actual respiratory system.
All of this in a matter of minutes before actually getting up.
Part of the reason that I went ahead and got up is that I had phone calls to make and other random stuff on my to-do list, you know, daytime duties.
So while sitting at my desk with my coffee I thought, wait, when am I going to be able to meditate, oh crap I really have to schedule it now. I felt my chest contract a bit like ohhh, I don’t have as much time as I used to. Then immediately, the internal reply was, do it now, all you need is 5 minutes anyway.
Yes self, you’re right.
And with that, I took a few deep breaths, letting the declaration of groundedness and safety settle in, and after a few minutes I opened my eyes, that feeling of internal peace washed over me, and I just smiled in gratitude – wow, 5 minutes.
Meditation is going to look different for me over the next few weeks, and that’s completely okay. It’s kind of nice to switch it up and do shorter times of focus, and I like including prayer and declaration of how I want the day to turn out.
This break in my routine admittedly caused a tinge of anxiety at first, and I knew that I would not successfully transition to working nights if I didn’t address it immediately.
Having a variety of tools to pull from is super helpful, but in this case I didn’t need to complete a worksheet of writing prompts. All I needed was a few moments to go within and listen to my inner voice, honoring that I’m physiologically acknowledging change and that it’s safe to proceed.
And so it is.
Have you had to make any adjustments to your own practice lately and how was that process for you? Let me know in the comments!
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