We’ve passed the half-way point for this year. How are you feeling right about now? Yeah, thought so. You’re not alone!
We all start out on the first of January with grand plans about what we want to do and where our boundaries are going to be. How we are going to be looking after ourselves. We vow to consistently connect back to who we are and what we want to achieve and live our life in alignment with that. It’s all going to be fabulous.
Then as the year progresses, life happens. And we can really lose connection with everything we had planned and fall back into that habit of being busy and juggling way too many balls. We’re suddenly exhausted and living out of alignment with who we are and how we want to be.
While we’re juggling a gazillion balls in the air, we can really lose connection with what our values are and how we ultimately want to live and lead.
It goes back to why I always talk about the importance of leading yourself rather than just going through life. Making sure you have processes in place to reflect and really assess that what you’re doing is intentional. That you’re working towards achieving goals rather than just falling back into bad habits again. That you have a sense of fulfilment rather than feeling frustrated and unhappy and as if you’re just running really fast on a treadmill to nowhere.
Can I say, it happens to me too? Then I have to bring myself back to me. Here’s how.
You have to carve out the time to be alone. Nothing in your ears, no computer in front of your face, you’re not tethered to your phone and you are by yourself. Then just sit and ask, ‘how has my week been?’ Reflect on that. Do a mental scan to work out if what you’ve been doing is all the stuff you want to do rather than stuff you do out of a misguided sense of obligation. Check in with how you are feeling. Are there any niggles in your body? Allow yourself to tap into your intuition.
Ask yourself if you’ve taken on too much because you think you’re a super hero and can do it all. Ask if you’re looking after yourself, if you’re eating well and exercising in the way you want. Reflect back on all that, with the goal of working out if you’re doing all the things that are in alignment with who you are and who you want to be.
Ask the big question: is life controlling me or am I in control of my life?
If you decide you’ve lost control, you have the choice as to whether you change it or not. Ultimately, that’s up to you. We all have the power of choice in any moment at any time. It’s not about beating yourself up for it but about putting plans in place to change whatever you want changed, whether it’s that you have to say no to a few things, pull back on a couple of things, let one of your balls drop and bounce for a little while ‘cos you can’t juggle everything right now.
Make sure you’re using self-care to head into the second half of the year feeling replete, not depleted. Make sure you’re living and leading in alignment with who you are and how you want to live your life. We want to see a vibrant you, not an exhausted you!