The following exercise is great for people who suffer from depression, anxiety or burnout, but anyone can benefit from implementing it into their lives.

Having myself gone through a burnout and a bout of anxiety, I know what it feels like to not have the energy or the will to do anything but stay in bed all day long. I felt guilty to an extent, knowing that there were a ton of tasks I should be doing and that my TO-DO list was growing out of hand. I needed to find a way to let my body heal, but still manage to get through my list, and so I came up with the idea of completing 1 task per day.

First and foremost, whatever it is that you are suffering from, allow your body some time to heal. There is a reason you are in this situation, so you need to address the physical and mental aspect of it first. Whether you need to sleep the day long or organise your thoughts, take a couple of days to do so. Allowing your body to heal might also be as simple as plopping down on the couch and watching TV for a week. Be mindful however that it is easy to fall into the habit of “doing nothing” while you recover, so put a deadline of a couple of days to 1 week.

Once your body has had the time to rest, it is now time to make a list. Don’t make this list while in your week of recovery. You are already taking that time to recover, so don’t add another task. If you think of something that needs to be done and you want to add to your list, jot it down on a piece of paper but don’t actively look for things to do to make your list until your deadline is up. Your list can be anything and everything you decide that will help clear your thoughts; from the things you should be doing, could be doing and need to be doing. Below are a couple of examples of action items you may find on your list:

SHOULD: prepare a home cooked meal, go to the gym, take a walk, call a friend.

COULD: meditate, take a yoga class, practice some breathing exercises, participate in arts & crafts.

NEED: to take the garbage out, to make an appointment with the doctor, to do the dishes.

Once you have your list, you can start crossing things off. In the beginning, focus on only doing 1 task per day. Once that task is complete, you can go back to resting. You do not want to over do it by completing 3 or 4 of your tasks and end up in the week long resting process again. As the days go by, you will notice that as tasks are being completed, you are clearing your mind and you will start to have more energy and happier thoughts. When this happens you may want to start completing 2 tasks per day from your list.

It is very important to have a support system in your life. It is all well to say you will do 1 task per day, but if you have dependants or a partner who doesn’t support you, this will be impossible to complete. If you have children, see if they can’t spend a couple of days at a relatives house, or schedule playdates at their friends’ house, to at least give you a couple of hours a day to rest. If you own a dog that requires a lot of attention, see if someone can’t take him for a couple of days.

Next would be to talk to your partner and let them know where you are at mentally and physically. Explain that you need some time to recover and the household chores might not all get done. Find out what they need from you and come to a compromise. They might ask to have the dishes done but they will take care of taking out the garbage, picking up the kids and passing the vacuum.

You will need to adapt this exercise to your personal situation, but the important factor here is that you allow your body time to recover, and you make a list of all the clutter you have in your mind so that you can slowly get it out.

You may experience feelings of guilt, which is why it is important to have a support system and speak to the people around you about what you are going through. It is also important to understand that this exercise is a process and that you have decided to take action to change your situation. By doing this exercise, you are wanting to recover and get back to your normal. There is no guilt when you are taking action to better yourself.