Most times we are doing better than we realize.
I have been thinking a lot about how hard it is to slow down, step back and appreciate how well we are doing. To take a moment out of our day to practice some self love. I don’t know about you, but my mind, when I let it run amok, immediately latches on to the ‘next thing’ in both the personal and business aspects of my life.
For example;
I watch my elder son with his unique needs learn to print legibly and spell, and think;
When will he be able to write a full page?
I bang out 10 burpees at the gym, compare myself to my gym mate who can do 30 and ponder how long it will take until I can do 30. I wrap up a great coaching session with a client and instantly wonder when the next new client will walk through my door. I complete one coaching program and before I have a chance to catch my breath, I instinctively start planning the next launch.
It does make one’s head spin…
…and thankfully this tendency is weakening!
By saying ‘no’ to over scheduling, putting self care at the forefront of all of my decisions, and incorporating practices into my life guaranteed to slow me down and be more mindful, I can then focus on how well things are going in my life and I can better appreciate my progress.
Last night I sat on the couch completely wiped after a week of coaching and filming 8 new videos (8!) for my new free coaching challenge (coming soon!) and from getting up at 4:15AM for a 5:30AM morning workout. Just sitting and doing nothing felt really good and while doing so I silently congratulated myself.
‘Girl, you did good this week!’ .
Yes there was unfinished work on my desk and dirty dishes in the kitchen sink but no matter. Winter and summer, work and rest, ebb and flow it is all cyclical, and last night ease was called for, not the creation of an enhanced ‘to do’ list, so I kicked back with my husband and watched Netflix.
Do You Have A Self Love Practice?
At the end of February’s Love Warrior coaching workshop we gave heart shaped notebooks to each participant and asked them to, each night before they went to bed, write down one thing they did well that day, and to do this for 30 days.
The point of the exercise was self love – to make themselves aware of and appreciate the hard work they did for their families and others, day in and day out, actions which in the blur of everyday life often pass unnoticed.
I participated in this practice too and each night before I turned off the bedside light I jotted down at least one thing I had done well that day.
Some days were good, some not as good, but I did it and looking back I have to say doing this positively impacted my life.
It wasn’t that I did incredible things every day, in fact, some days were downright mundane, but keeping the focus on my daily accomplishments certainly made me feel better than lying in bed thinking about all the unfinished business I had to do, or mulling over something that had not gone off the way I had hoped it would.
It also reminded me that the routine days, the days when my energy went into the menial tasks that all mothers and workers of the world do- grocery shopping, preparing meals, cleaning / tidying the house, practicing piano with your child, reading with your kids, seeing to the family’s health and dental appointments, business paperwork, bookkeeping…. this stuff was actually the important stuff, the stuff that keeps your life and that of your families positively moving forward.
What I jotted down in my heart shaped notebook;
-‘Made a healthy family dinner’.
-‘Felt really tired so listened to my body and spent time resting in the backyard’.
-‘Completed my blog post’.
-‘Reviewed our financial investments-hard mental work!’
-‘Made fish for dinner (healthy)’.
-‘Washed dog after dog park.’
-‘Completed a tough workout at the gym despite my plantar fasciitis’.
-‘Visited with my niece / family -brought my niece her birthday present’.
-‘Had good coaching session with client X, then shopped for groceries’.
Not earth shattering stuff is it?
But it made me feel good to write these things down. Even if I got into bed somewhat discouraged because I hadn’t accomplished as much as I had wanted to do, or because I got bogged down on a tech problem, or was exhausted from the constant activity that comes with being a Mom to young kids- through this practice I was forced to stop, be mindful, and identify out at least one positive aspect of the day.
Yay! – ‘I did get a healthy dinner on the table tonight’, I would say to myself.
Message: I am caring for my family.
Yay! -‘I completed my blog post’.
Message: I am making my work a priority and putting in the time.
Yay! -‘I was tired, so I took a nap’.
Message: Despite having a bunch of stuff to do, I cared for myself and rested.
Don’t Have a Self-Love Practice?
Steal this one please!!!!
And today (and maybe for the next 30 days if you really want to be good to yourself!), I hope you take a moment and congratulate yourself for all YOU do.
I know life can be tough.
I know you do A LOT.
You are doing SO WELL!…
…and I hope on a consistent basis, you slow down and remind yourself of that.
and if you feel like you have been letting yourself down a bit in the self love department you might want to check out THIS -it’s for Friday April 28th and I have one spot available.
xo
Eliz
The little heart shaped note books we gave out.