You’re exhausted. Burnt out. Done. You’re trying to do everything. All the things. All the time. But you’ve hit a wall. You wish for moments of complete silence. Time alone, doing nothing.
Then the guilt hits. Your family needs you. You have built a business that won’t run itself. You can’t take any time for yourself. That would be selfish. I know where you are. I've been there. I STILL go there! It's life. I have those days, weeks, MONTHS, where I just can't give one ounce more of myself to anyone. I have literally come home from work, put my pajamas on and mentally checked out. I have even just gone straight to bed. No dinner, minimal conversation, just sleep. It's normal when you are not dealing with stress in a healthy and manageable way. But is that living a full and joyful life? Not even close.
I want to come home and enjoy the time with my family. I want to be able to still have enough energy to exercise each week. I like to take the time to read. I love walking my dog. I cherish time with my amazing family. Yet, when my plate is too full and I can't manage my time effectively, it negatively affects those who mean the most to me and the things that I care about. If I give everything I have at the office and then leave nothing in my tank for anything else, that is out of balance. Or if I ONLY focused on my diet and exercise, my skills at work and faith are off balance and possibly creating an unhealthy obsession. When I am crying out to God yet not moving in action and expecting Him to just "fix it" for me without listening to where He is directing me, there is imbalance. Can you see the relation here?
So what if I told you the elements of health, business, faith are all intersected and they affect one another? What if I said taking time for yourself is IMPORTANT, even NECESSARY?
Suffering from chronic stress can often leave a person feeling overwhelmed, everyday tasks become seemingly too hard to tackle. Managing stress is the last thing on your mind; you only know that you want the stress and the ugly side-effects that come along to hit the road and let you get back to life. I mean, we are busy career-focused women with families! We don’t have time for or need additional stress and side effects. So obviously, the necessity of stress management is a must for the benefit of your health. The best way to slow the aging process and maintain healthy hormone production? Manage your stress. You want to keep sickness away? Take the time the learn stress management. Goodbye to tummy troubles? Stop focusing on the stressors and take control of one element at a time.
Where do you start? What is the most important thing to tackle first? What matters the most?
There is not a silver bullet answer to these questions. And seriously beware of someone offering the one fix solution, but that's another post. Simply put, each of us will have different priorities at different times. My top three priorities today may not be the same top three next year or even next month, depending on my life’s situation at that time. Equally, you will not have the same top three priorities in your life that your best friend has. However, if you are missing health in that list, your overall success in life is off-balance. Without health, even the best mindset and the strongest faith will have minimal impact if you don’t have the strength or energy to move forward in your life’s purpose. Your family suffers. Your work suffers. Relationships suffer. Your positivity suffers. It’s hard to push your business forward if you have no focus or feel sick most of the time. Without energy, it’s a challenge to have meaningful time with your favorite people that mean the world to you. If you feel down or depressed, it’s increasingly difficult to have a positive or growth mindset.
Your desire for entrepreneurial success or climbing the corporate ladder is because you want to create a life on your terms. We have the desire to be the best we can for our family, to leave behind a legacy of faith, tenacity, and determination. We want to use our gifts and skills to give back. Yet, if we push health to the back burner, we are ineffective in our desires mentioned above and it also impacts our drive because we are burnt-out. Nobody and nothing will benefit if you have nothing left to give.
Faith, health, and mindset (skills and attitude) all contribute to your overall success leading to you to the best, most impactful life. They are intertwined. They each impact one another. You can’t have one without the others. You were created for greatness and it’s up to you to take control of your stress. HEALTH MATTERS!
Here is your first step to finding freedom in your life by choosing to say yes to your health: I want you to do this TODAY, write down all the things on your plate or on your mind that you are trying to give attention. Pick two (seriously, just two!) areas to focus on this week. Just TWO. This is about making small, manageable changes. You won’t know when you have arrived if you don’t know where you are going. For example, if you struggle with finding time to exercise, schedule in two days this week that you will make that appointment. Then pick something you enjoy, for goodness sake! If you hate running, go to a yoga class or try a barre class! The likelihood of you doing something you hate is slim to none. So do something you WANT TO DO!!
Here are some suggestions to give a targeted, jump start to a healthier YOU. Use these focus areas to assist you in stress management while you build and create goals for yourself and journey to the path of health. Creating goals in each area of your life will be instrumental in finding a semblance of “balance”. The promptings will help you as create time and become mindful in who you want to become and what your idea of health will look like.
Mindset:
· Be thankful. Find at least three things each day that you are grateful for.
· Set some time to just be still. This can work especially well first thing in the morning, before the crazy of the day sets in. It sets the tone for a day of productivity. Enjoy the quiet and use the time to pray, reflect, journal, and write down goals and what you are grateful for.
· Read books that focus on encouragement, positivity, and self-development.
· Surround yourself with positive people who are living lives that you would like to emulate.
Time Management:
· Create a daily schedule
· Use 30 minute blocks of time for tasks then take a 5-10 break
· Repeat that three times then take a 30-minute break
· Plan your meals/meal prep to avoid giving in to cravings (sugar, fast food, empty calories)
Self-Care:
· Make sleep a priority
· Limit your use of devices in the evening hours
· Treat yourself to a facial, massage, or pedicure
· Let others know what you need from them. It’s OK to ask for help.
Exercise:
· Make an appointment at least two-three times a week to exercise and treat it like you would any other appointment.
· Pick something you enjoy
· Try something new
· Start with a positive mindset, you are doing something great for your body.
Take the time to care for you because the world needs you and your gifts. Saying yes to your health is that important. I would love to hear what you did to say "YES!" to your health this week! Share in the comments, it would make my day.
In health,
Ericka