Lessons from 2021 – a memoir from Chrystal
When I was asked to write a blog, I honestly thought it was a mistake. I mean, what do I have to write about? Who would even read what I wrote? Also, who am I to write anything…what do I know?
Then I thought why not give it a try, not bothering about who would read it or what others thought. So I was just left with, what do I write about.
Physiotherapy?
Fitness?
Religion?
Food?
Mental health? … like what?!
I finally decided to write about 5 things I learned throughout this past year. I am not an expert in any of these things nor have I perfected them. I just want to share what has helped me get through this year.
- Listening is key
For this entire year, I was honoured to be a part of The Learning Physiotherapist programme as a mentee. I have learnt many things from the mentors, fellow mentees and the program coordinators but one of the first things that were brought up from the beginning was listening - and its importance.
Now I am an introvert, specifically an INFJ-T which is someone with Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Judging personality traits. I am not the type of person to seek out persons to talk to or be the first person to start a conversation. When first starting my current job, I kept wondering how I was to interact with my patients, clients, colleagues and family throughout the different therapy sessions. By implementing listening, especially active listening, in my interaction with others, I have been able to better communicate with patients and colleagues. Quite frankly, listening just solves half the problem and I don’t even have too much of the talking myself.
- Planners
Throughout the day, there are so many things to do, persons to talk to, duties to fulfil and so many thoughts going through my mind. It’s quite easy for me to forget to do something until I am getting ready for bed, then I have to rush to do it.
I started using planners to plan out my days since my 3rd or 4th year at university. This past year I REALLY have needed to use my planner to layout my routine for the day…from my patient schedule to workout plan to shopping days - and even hanging out with friends. I put it all in my planner. It has helped reduce the amount of stress from trying to remember what I have to do.
Also, it saves some gas.
It has become a fun and creative section of my weekend to plan out the week ahead and I look forward to it. I am especially looking forward to starting my new planner this year, 2022. Oh, the ideas I have for it!
- Podcasts
When I was younger, I could not fathom why someone would, willingly, want to listen to someone else speaking about how to do this and that. Don’t we get enough of that from church, parents, and school?
Turns out, as adults, no one person knows everything. These motivational, life-coaching podcasts can be very helpful in navigating the journey of life. This past year has been filled with me trying out many things I learned from the podcasts I listen to. Some things didn’t work out for me and some did. From each of them, I was able to learn how to handle different situations, different people and more about myself.
One life hack I learnt about that I love is the dopamine reward system which I learnt about from The Mindset Mentor, Rob Dial; he is a motivational speaker. I applied this hack to my workout routine by having a small piece of dark chocolate after my workouts. The release of adrenaline helped me to look forward to the next workout session…even through the soreness.
I am very grateful to motivational speakers and those people who share their life experiences, especially those in the same field as me…and ways to handle tough situations. Without them, I don’t know where I would be.
- Me-Time
Work, people, chores, organizations, family, and meetings can just fill up your day from morning to night, demanding your attention left, right and centre. Previously, I would find myself drained and completely exhausted and realized I hadn’t done anything for myself. That realisation felt like a burden on my mentality. I felt I didn’t have the time to enjoy things I love.
Don’t get me wrong, I love being a physiotherapist but I was starting to have a narrow-minded focus on everything physio. I struggled to have time to have devotion, to work out, hang with friends, read a book (unrelated to physio), even sit and watch a series or movie. So, I started literally writing down my me-time in my schedule.
And what a difference it made!
I found my focus and temperament improved loads. I also had more energy to tackle the day.
- Rest.
Now, this is completely different from Me-Time because I am talking about actual SLEEP.
I can’t tell you how many times I have heard, ‘you need to get an adequate amount of sleep’ said in so many different ways. And it’s not wrong.
I’m sure we’ve all heard the many benefits of sleep, ranging from ‘boosting your immune system’ to ‘improving productivity' to ‘helping prevent weight gain. These benefits have been proven time over and over again.
Even a 15min nap during the day can do wonders. I’ll admit I don’t get time to have a 15min nap during the day but when I do I try to. I do indeed feel much better.
Currently, my bedtime that I strive for is from 10 pm – 4 am. It’s not easy keeping that schedule because I am the type of person that would lie to myself say ‘just one more episode’. HA! However, when I do keep to this routine, I can feel the benefits of it the next day.
All in all it comes down to discipline and self-love. ‘Self-Love = Self-Discipline’. That has been one of my favourite quotes this pass year. If you want to love yourself, you need to discipline yourself - and if you love yourself, you will discipline yourself to live your best and healthy life.
As we enter into the second month of 2022, we don’t know what it holds but I hope you can also look back on your past year, pick out some things you have learnt and apply them to this new year to help with your growth and success.
“Be not afraid of growing slowly; be afraid only of standing still.” – Chinese Proverb
Happy New Year and Stay Safe.
A Learning Physiotherapist
Chrystal A. Lynch