If there's one thing I've never been good at, it's balance. Physically, I've pretty much nailed that one - I mean I'm a yoga teacher, hellooo. (Joking. So totally joking.) But in all seriousness when it comes to life balance, I have a lot of work to put in.
I'm a balls-to-the-wall, 210%, all-or-nothing kind of girl when it comes to what I put my time, energy, and spirit into - which just so happens to be one of my best qualities and one of my most, err, challenging ones as well. When I commit to something, I want to be great at it - the best. I would even go so far as saying I get a little obsessive. This looks like working late into the night, putting in way, way over 40 hours between teaching and my big girl job, checking emails while I'm at dinner with my people, and multi-tasking like it's going to end world hunger or something.
For the record, I know when to go all in or not. If it's not something that's truly "me" or something that I care about with my whole heart, I'll take a hard pass. I'm well aware of my ability to choose this (extremely unsustainable) lifestyle - I make the active decision to give it all I've got. I just get carried away, I guess.
And when I get carried away, I don't take care of myself. I give until there's just about nothing left to give and although I'm definitely receiving and reaping the benefits of my work, I'm not leaving myself enough time to do what's good for my soul (i.e. yoga, writing, reading, drawing, sleeping in - oh, sleeping in - eating healthy, and the list goes on). And these are the things that help me to refuel and reset - they fill my tank - so when I don't make time for them I don't quite feel myself. This has been my struggle these past few months. Slowly, I start the descent into the grey where I'm not sure who I am, what I want, why I started, or where I'm going. Ironically, I fall to the exact opposite end of the spectrum.
When I'm constantly giving and not taking much-needed me time, I tend do the thing - you know, the thing - where albeit knowing what's best for me and what allows me to be a nice, kind, caring, proactive member of society, I do what's easy. I take short cuts, I run Netflix marathons, I eat all the worst foods, I blatantly ignore my yoga mat, I don't get enough sleep, I answer with a simple (and boring) "fine" to every question thrown my way, yada yada yada. I allow myself to choose the things that don't nourish me, challenge me, or inspire me...like, why? WHY? Does anyone else run into this issue, or am I just the worst, laziest human being ever? I don't entirely understand myself sometimes...most of the time...
Anyways. As they say, the first step toward change is awareness - and as anyone who's still reading this knows, I can check that one off the list. Acceptance is the next step and for your/time's sake, let's just say I've got that one down too. I am the way I am, and I am OK with that. Last but not least, we've got action. I'll be extremely honest - working long hours is just the way my life has to be right now, mostly because that's the way I want it to be, so trimming my workweek down to 40 hours just ain't gonna happen. But I'm willing to compromise and rework other areas of my life to find that sweet, sacred spot of life balance. I'm not one to follow through with a long list of resolutions - at least not all at once (baby steps, people) - but I'm really keen on choosing one thing to focus on and crushing that, and then moving to the next on the list. So with y'all as my witnesses, I vow to make myself a priority. Each and every day, I am going to carve out some serious time for me, myself, and I. Here is my self love declaration:
For one hour every single day - even when I'm feeling ultra lazy and would rather be laying on the couch and eating pizza (and watching GOT reruns) - I will take one hour to do something I love, simply because I love it. Every damn day.
As I'm a huge fan of accountability, if you run into me around the lakes or we grab a bite together, ask me how I'm doing. Because lezzzz be honest, when it comes to taking care of myself I have basically zero integrity. I will easily opt out of self care for any number of different reasons - like eating pizza on the couch while watching GOT. I mean it, y'all. Hold me to it.
How do you rebalance when you're out of whack and/or how do you carve out time to take care of yourself?