I have some #RealTalk and love coming your way today.

 

Ya need to stop.

 

You need to stop this thing that is keeping you stuck, anxious, and depressed.

 

Stop saying you don’t have enough time.

 

Everyone now is talking about the importance of self-care.

 

We get it, we know that it’s so so important and YET what I hear time and time again from women when we talk about actually prioritizing it is, ‘Yea that sounds nice but I don’t have enough time.’

 

I know you’re busy.

 

I know you’re juggling a career, trying to make it to the gym, maybe meal prepping, kids, chronic illnesses and it feels like you’re constantly running.

 

And if you’re experiencing depression and anxiety I know that makes everything 100x harder and all-consuming.

 

But the thing is, you DO have enough time.

 

 

How often during the day do you stop, pause, put your feet up and do NOTHING for 5 to 10 minutes? Even crazier, How often do you take a guilt free day off? No errands, cleaning, nothing. Or a weekend trip or staycation?

 

If you’re like most women I know and talk with on a daily basis I’m guessing your answer is never or verrrry rarely.

 

Right? I mean culturally we LOVE to talk about how damn busy we are all the time.

 

‘How are you? Good, busy.’

‘OMG this week has been crazy, it’s go go go!’

Or my favorite, ‘I’m so exhausted I was up until 2 am last night working.’

 

As a society, we’ve gotten to the point where we BRAG about how busy and exhausted we are.

 

It’s been ingrained in us to wear our stress and lack of time as a badge of honor.

I want to talk about WHY we do this, why we glorify our stress and a lack of time and what it’s costing us.

 

And most importantly I want to talk about how to shift out of that habit into something much much brighter and better.

 

 

The reason we’re so obsessed with being busy, with overscheduling ourselves, with working through our lunch breaks and constantly running around - it’s because we don’t believe that we’re enough.

 

We’re never good enough.

 

There’s always something more that we need to PROVE. To be successful enough, smart enough, productive enough, thin enough, a good enough mother and wife.

 

So to fill that gap and void, we’ve gotten used to filling our schedules to the absolute max and feeling guilty, lazy or selfish for burning out and then spend an entire weekend on the couch or even from taking just  5 minutes for ourselves.

 

You’re not meant to be at 100% all the time!

 

You’re not meant to charge forward at full force every hour of every day, 5 days a week 52 weeks a year.

 

And you are so much more than enough EXACTLY the way you are, without working or doing anything else.

 

If we really take a look at how our bodies have evolved and how our hormones naturally fluctuate - we can see quite easily that we’re meant to move in seasons.

 

Yearly, monthly, weekly, and even daily seasons.  

 

When we push and power through and continue to pile on should after should, we don’t make time for the things that light us up and recharge us, and we burn out and harm ourselves more.

 

 

Instead, if you were to HONOR your body’s natural season and rest and recharge when you need it, even though it seems counterintuitive you’d do 2 things.

 

1. You’d remove the shame of taking time for yourself. You’d really GET that being constantly busy isn’t anything to brag about and start to prioritize and hold sacred YOUR time.
2. You’d also find out that by prioritizing rest and recovery you, in fact, have more time, more energy, more joy and more productivity.

 

So let’s talk about 2 things you can start today TODAY to immediately start prioritizing rest and honoring your seasons on a daily basis.

Identify your priorities and values and say NO.

When you don’t believe that you’re enough by default you fill your life with other people’s priorities and values.

 

You focus on getting busier and busier instead of tuning into what really makes YOU happy, satisfied and content. 

 

Stop this cycle by identifying your top 3 values and prioritize them ruthlessly.

 

For me right now (and these values shift with time) my values are, are building a thriving business that’s changing the world, honoring my health, and feeling deeply connected to my husband and family.

 

Because I know that these are my values I know what I need to say no to.

 

This isn’t me restricting myself or feeling deprived, it’s much more me intentionally designing my day and scheduling my time full of things that light me up and not overcrowding my schedule with things that ultimately don’t matter to me.

Build in breaks. Like actually put them into your calendar.

This takes a bit of reverse engineering but is totally worth it.

 

Firstly this means identifying how much time, how much rest and relaxation YOU need to thrive.

 

So maybe that looks like 1-2 big vacations a year, 2 weekends a month totally off, 8 hours of sleep a night, two 10 minute walks a day, and a lunch break.

 

You may also find that you want more freedom and time to play during summer or time to rest during winter or you want to take it easier during the beginning of your menstrual cycle.

 

Tune into your yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily seasons and plan out your ideal schedule embracing the fact that you’re not meant to be at 100% all of the time.

 

Once you know what you want, SCHEDULE IT IN. If it’s not on your calendar it won’t happen. Schedule these times in as non-negotiables.

 

The rest of your day and responsibilities get filled in around these.

 

If that means you have to get less done in a day, then you come back to your values and decide what to cut.

 

When you start to do this, when you own that you have ALL the time in the world and that resting is not selfish or shameful, when you get clear on your values and intentionally build in breaks around it -- I guarantee you will start to instantly notice that you're feeling more calm, confident, purposeful and satisfied.

 

AND you’re going to be more rested, focused, and productive.

 

So how are you going to start restructuring your time to allow for more rest and recharging? Let me know in the comments below!