Do you ever find that there is so much going on in your life, your business, your work it can be overwhelming and exhausting but you just can’t stop?
You are on this merry go round or hamster wheel doing the same thing over and over.
But what is it all for? Why are you doing what you are doing?
Do you ever really give yourself time to answer these questions?
Pretty simple questions, but things you put off or avoid because you’ve just got to get this stuff done and then you tell yourself you’ll come back to checking in with life, but never do.
All the “stuff” (your work, your to do lists etc) have served a great purpose and can become a great excuse for you to not show up for yourself. Life has become so much more complicated and fuller compared to how it was 50 years ago and there is a lot of “mindless” activity going on that allows for escapism – the scrolling through social media, the never-ending emails in the inbox, the buying “stuff” online. All looking for ways to either feel better or to dull the pain. All these things provide resistance and excuses that keep you on that hamster wheel for a bit longer.
“Excuses are nothing more than lies that fear have sold you “Carmen Bell, South African Entrepreneur, and “Resistance is simply your mind’s fearful response to your heart and soul’s inspiration” (Nick Williams, author of Resisting your Soul).
To overcome excuses and resistance in your life – whether it be in your health, your business, your job, your relationship you have to expand your level of awareness and take time to reflect. The things that you resist could very well be exactly what you want for yourself– the thing that will most fulfil you as you start doing it.
Simple things that can seem really hard to do:
- It is letting go of habits that aren’t serve you and upgrading your thoughts to create new habits.
- Moving away from the computer and going for a walk for 15 min.
- Delegating a job you have been doing that you no longer enjoy
- Filling your own cup and doing stuff you enjoy.
- Taking the morning or afternoon off.
- Going to the gym or a run or walk and enjoying it instead of ticking off the list as something else you had to do.
- Go to bed early because you know you need a good night’s sleep instead of watching Netflix to unwind.
- It is looking after your body with the right foods, rest, exercise.
- Its about putting yourself first instead of pleasing others.
- It is getting rid of the I should do this….. instead of I want to do this.
I took a week off where I unplugged – from work, clients, phone calls, messages, social media and spent it with family, sleeping, resting, walking in nature, and just unplugging. It felt so good and I felt invigorated and filled my own cup.
Be disruptive. Don’t get yourself caught up on the autopilot. Check in with yourself regularly to make sure you are truly doing what you want to be doing. In the words of Steve Jobs
“For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”