Ok, at this point you should be starting your morning early with a good deep sleep the night before.
Talk as little as possible and with a soft voice to any family members who need to know that you don’t want to be disturbed. Use as little energy as possible to get yourself isolated in your sewing room.
Now, silence your phone, bring in some water, close the door and take that paper and completely focus on the first step. Don’t worry about the rest of the steps. That can make you panic and take away your focus and energy. Apply all your focus to the step you are on. Then, of course, the next step, etc.
Take the paper with you as you eat and review the next few steps in your mind as you eat your food. Check phone messages and text short replies if needed while you eat too. Don’t call anyone if at all possible. Use only short texts, and only during food breaks. Be sure to stay hydrated. Keep moving along, no breaks today, just forward progress, moving on to the next step.
Try to stay as unemotional as humanly possible. Stress takes away energy fast. Sometimes we just have to cry, yes, I know that it happens. But get your focus back as quickly as possible.
Hunkering down means you turn your complete attention to the task at hand. You zone out everything else. It’s actually quite amazing how much you can get done when you get into this “zone”.
Remember that hydration is part of your work focus. But don’t let it distract you.
Stay off your phone.
It’s more important to work carefully than to just frantically throw the dress under the machine. Unpicking mistakes will take away from your time and energy when in the “zone”.
Do your best work. It really doesn’t take that much more time to do an impeccable job.
The important thing is to keep moving forward without stopping. As soon as one step is done, move smoothly on to the next. Just keep moving. That’s part of being in the zone.
I hope this helps. I really do feel love and kindness for you all, but like I said, getting the work done can be far easier emotionally than the messy consequences of falling apart and not getting the work done.