August has been quite the month of rejuvenation for me. As I mentioned in July, life had started to feel a bit out of control and I was very much needing to take a time out. While I can’t say I exactly achieved the complete break from reality that I desired (who can?), I did do a much better job at listening to my body and what it needed over the past thirty days than I have done in quite some time. The end result is a more rested, relaxed and creative me and for that I am profoundly grateful.
The last month served as a fantastic reminder of the importance of self-care in all of our lives. It was a topic that came up in the comment section of last month’s post on gratitude when I asked for suggestions on how to juggle life’s responsibilities without burning out. Your recommendations and helpful words have been on my mind ever since.
I hate to say no to things; to opportunities, to experiences, to invitations. It is much deeper rooted than a fear of missing out. It comes from a time when I didn’t have awesome people in my life who invited me to things. It comes from a place where I rarely branched out of my comfort zone and allowed for new experiences in my life. I internalized those feelings of loneliness and regret at a young age and now whenever anything I’m remotely interested in comes up I feel immense self-induced pressure to seize the day and do whatever it is.
This trait isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It has served me well many times and has brought some incredible people and experiences into my life. It becomes a problem however when I let those underlying insecurities run the show instead of listening to what my body actually wants and needs at any given time.
The juggling act that is working a full-time job and putting dozens of hours a week into a blog is no easy task as many of you know. Seventy to eighty-hour workweeks have a way of leaving you feeling pretty exhausted by the time the weekend rolls around. Recently I had been trying to combat that Friday night fatigue by drinking a bunch of espressos and getting myself out the door. Unfortunately, I was finding more often than not that it was coming back to bite me in the form of two weekend days spent in a completely sluggish state.
In August I finally listened to what my body was telling me and realized that the exhaustion was making a fair point. Perhaps working until 11 PM on a Friday night and then going out with friends only to wake up at 10 AM the next morning to work on my blog wasn’t serving me well. In the past, I’d push aside that sentiment and maintain an “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” mentality, but not in this last month.
This month I learned to get better about saying, “Hey body, I hear what you’re saying and I’m going to honor what you need.” You know what? It has been GLORIOUS. Sure, I’ve had to say no to a few things I would have liked to do in a perfect world, but what I’ve gotten in return has been so much greater than I could have imagined. I have been reading and sleeping full nights. I have been relaxing (something I have discovered I have a hard time doing at this point) and spending quality one on one time with my husband doing absolutely nothing. As a result, I’m feeling healthier, inspired and ready to take on what the remainder of the year has in store.
How has the end of summer been feeling to all of you? Are you feeling rejuvenated and ready for autumn or overwhelmed by the thought of it? What have you found to be grateful for this past month?