The alarm goes off at 6am, you jump out of bed and begin to navigate your busy day. My first thoughts are what do I have to get done before I walk out the door? How much can I cram into the 2 hours I give myself before I have to leave my house and go to work. At least those used to be my first thoughts until I realized that I was stressing myself out, and that stress was the cause of most of my health issues. Did you know that 79% to 90% of doctor visits are stress-related? Stress contributes to digestive issues, elevated blood pressure, difficulty sleeping, anxiety, impaired immunity, depression, weight loss (not the kind you want), and much more. In fact, stress is considered a silent killer for those who don't listen to what their body is trying to tell them.
How many times do you say to yourself, I just have to get through today, or I just have to make it to the weekend, only to start the vicious cycle over again. Unless you intentionally make some changes to your life, it is never going to get better. And the changes don't have to be huge. Start with baby steps. Get up 15 minutes early to meditate or do yoga or sit outside and watch the sun rise. Take a hot bath on your day off. Read a chapter in that book you have on your nightstand before bed. Go outside (I know it's cold) and breathe in the fresh air for just a few minutes and feel the calmness all around you. Make some space for you. Allow yourself to relax into your body and feel whatever it is you need to feel. I think we have forgotten how important it is to just feel. We live in our heads and forget that we have a body that needs our attention.
I'm not an expert at this, but I am working on it. And that's ok. I still get caught up in the chaos of running a business and seeing clients and helping everyone else with their stuff that I forget about mine. But I try not to ignore my own well-being for so long that my body has to scream for me to hear. I am much better at feeling when I need to take a break, and I am also much better at doing small things throughout the day to take care of myself. I do get up early in the morning and do yoga. I make sure to take time to eat lunch before I am starving and cranky. I dedicate time to doing things that I love, like taking classes and researching health stuff for my clients. (I know, pretty nerdy, but I love it). And most importantly, I try not to worry about the stuff I have to do tomorrow or the things I have no control over, and I try to give 100% of my attention to right now. Sometimes right now is uncomfortable and icky, but right now is the only thing we can ever do anything about.
So how can you make some space for yourself today? Give it some thought because it's really important. You are really important. Take time to take care of your whole self, not just that never-ending list you made that only a super-human could accomplish. I speak from experience, my friends. I am a recovering perfectionist and overachiever. I have been where you are right now. But I decided to make some changes. It didn't happen all at once. In fact, it has taken years for me to get where I am today. But I won't go back to that life where I didn't matter, where my feelings didn't matter. Change is hard, but it's totally worth it, and so are you.