Feeling Guilty for Taking Time for YOU?

Do you have time for YOU? If you don’t nobody else will!

Do you feel guilty recharging your battery? -- Like closing your eyes and breathing before your next meeting, or a 10-minute walk after lunch, how about feeling like it is ok to take a warm bath at night even though the house is a mess?

Our world is in hyper speed, and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down. If you are not in a hurry, you must be doing something wrong.

How did this happen, is anyone noticing? Do we want to slow down?

"I am not sure we want to slow down, but I sure believe we have to."

Fatigue, depression, and anxiety have never been higher. It seems like everyone is on edge, we are not as kind to each other.

I have a great client who is young, motivated, and very successful. I was talking to her the other day about stress. How is your stress?

She said, “my stress is off the charts.”  

“I never get done what I want to in the day. I have too many phone calls, a new assistant and I am moving into a new office building. Not to mention young kids at home.”

I think she wanted me to say, that will all move past, and it will be smooth sailing next month. I caught her off guard when I said, it isn’t going to slowdown. There will be more challenges, more chaos, and more phone calls. What can you control? We need to create REST strategies.

We want it all, we crave success and happiness, but at what sacrifice? Are we building the foundation to enjoy our efforts? One area I am passionate about and try to guide people on is the area of REST. Not just sleeping and getting rest, but the idea that we must do less to do more.

As I was talking with my client I said when do you take a break during your day? What is your REST strategy? Have you ever thought about getting a massage or taking a walk in the middle of your day?

This is when I heard it—

“I feel guilty,”

I feel like if I take this time for myself, I am not serving other people.

I wanted to write this article because I hear this repeatedly. Our society has learned to be in a hurry, to be busy and when we are about to break, we top our stress and fatigue with the emotion of GUILT. Why am I worthy of a rest?

This is the answer---because it is our only way to do more, to be better, to be nicer, to be happier, to be more patience, to have grace and in my opinion, it is our way to GIVE what we are meant to give.

We may use computers, phones, and software every day, but we are not machines, we are humans.

My message to her and to you reading this.

Take time for yourself and recharge your batteries!

WHY? Because we need you and when you do this, you can give more.

Top 5 Ways to Recharge

  1. Walking in the middle of the day (10 minutes minimum)
  2. Laying on a foam roller and belly breathing
  3. Massage (10-90 minutes)
  4. Playing (Basketball, tennis, pickleball, jet ski, golf, music)
  5. Stillness (Being with your thoughts)

We all have more we could be doing but remember if you want to do meaningful and important things you need to step back and recover regularly.

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