Changing Your Mindset: What You HAVE to Do, to What You GET to Do!
So often we are over-scheduled with family responsibilities and work deadlines. We feel obligated to be everywhere and everything to everybody. We beat ourselves up for the things we cannot accomplish. We feel constantly feeling behind and often like we are not accomplishing enough. We worry about other peoples' opinions of us and their judgments. We put huge expectations on ourselves expecting to be able to over come and out do and keep up. Under this pressure we have high levels of stress. We tend not to take care of ourselves emotionally or physically. We are often so concerned about and over thinking about what we are doing or not doing. But life doesn’t have to be so treacherous or overwhelming.
Let's pause and take a breath. Let us notice how we are feeling. When we slow down, we may see that we are taking care of everyone but ourselves. We spend much of our time trying to be the perfect wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, coworker, employee. We forget that it takes a village to make the world go around. We may be the first to offer help but the last to ask. We forget to give ourselves a break. While we are running around trying to make sure everyone else is taken care of, who is taking care of us? All the love and energy we put in to making sure everyone else is OK should be spent in some amount on loving and caring for ourselves.
Here are some suggestions for healing this stressful cycle.
Take a moment to breathe
Breathing exercises have a variety of benefits for the body that not only make you healthier, but can reduce your stress and anxiety levels as well. Deep breathing can improve your energy level. Deep breathing slows your heart rate. Deep breathing helps to clean out the lungs. Deep breathing reduces anxiety.
Notice how you feel
Close your eye are check in with your physical body as you breathe. Notice your five senses. What do you smell, taste, feel, hear and see? Be present.Center yourself and know you are safe, strong and fully capable. Take five minutes to breathe, meditate, stretch, take care of your precious soul, brain, body. You are worth it.
Make a list of the things you have to get done today and prioritize them
Everything cannot be done at the same time. We can be fabulous multitaskers, but the truth is we can only do and think about one thing at a time even if we think of things very quickly and move onto each task very quickly. When we rush or try to do everything at once, we limit our ability to do our best work. Spreading ourselves too thin is doing no one favors. When we are not taking care of ourselves, it will limit our ability to care for those we love so much. Make a lit of things you can and want to accomplish today, in a week, in a month. Put them in order of what must be done first. Let the things that can wait, wait. Prioritize your sanity.
Take care of yourself
When you prioritize your life, put yourself and how you feel at the top. Make sure you were getting adequate sleep and water and healthy food. Spend some time stretching and breathing. Even if you haven’t found the time in your life to begin a workout program, spend some time thinking about what small things you can do to improve your nutrition. Add a salad to your meal plan today. Drink an extra 8 ounces of water. Take a walk around the block. Spend time petting your dog or your neighbor's dog. Smile more. Smiling has a huge physiologically benefit to the body. When you smile you release dopamine and serotonin, natural happiness hormones, into your system. Putting a smile on your face and taking a deep breath can change your life in seconds.
Make a gratitude list (even if it's one thing)
Focus on anything you can feel grateful for even if it’s just waking up in the morning and being able to take a shower. It might be seeing the face of your child or partner significant other. Let the "to do" list in your life become opportunities to be thankful. Instead of "having" to make dinner, considered that you have the opportunity and you get to make dinner for the people you love. "Getting to make dinner" for the people you love means that you have a family to care for. Getting to wake up in the morning and get ready for work means that you have a job to go to which provides money and the ability to care for your family and yourself. These are things for which to be grateful. So often we consider the tasks of our lives to be burdensome. We let making dinner and going to work become a burden that steals our joy. Instead let your daily tasks provide joy and gratitude and give yourself the opportunity to experience life in a way we wouldn’t if we didn’t have them.
Breathe, find your joy and give yourself a break. You are beautiful and good. You are a blessing in every way. See your life and your tasks as joy. Take one step at a time to creating a life of gratitude and peace. You are worth it.
Grateful for YOU,
Coach Angela