Most of the time, my blogs talk about the things I’ve learned to “right” in life in order to live a more peaceful life. But, today I’m going to start a series on my “oopses.” The first in this series is titled GET OFF THE TREADMILL because I recently stayed on the treadmill of being busy, busy for a little too long. And now I’m suffering the consequences!
The next blog in this series is titled IT SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA AT THE TIME because part of the reason I stayed on the treadmill too long is because I made some choices that seemed like a good idea at the time, but really were not! Stay tuned for that one next week for that one.
The FINAL blog in the series is actually not an “oops” moment, but the story of my struggles with my health over the past two years. It chronicles my journey from doctor to doctor to find out why I was feeling so bad after our move. This one is titled WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN PEACEFUL LIVING?
Often, when I first start working with a client, she expresses to me that she does not know how she’s going to fit in our peaceful life coaching sessions because she’s so busy. But, she’s going to try because her stress is so difficult to handle that she knows she needs to change her life. Thus, one of the major lessons we learn during the coaching is that WE DO HAVE CHOICES ABOUT HOW WE SPEND OUR TIME.
I know it seems like we do not – we have work, kids, volunteer positions (often in support of our kids), housework, etc. etc.
BUT I’M HERE AS A LIVING EXAMPLE OF HOW YOU DO HAVE A CHOICE!
But, Jen, you may be saying, “you just said that this blog is going to be about your “oopses.”
That’s right. In the past few months I got on the busy, busy treadmill and stayed on too long! Let me paint the scenario:
THE PLAN…
In January 2017 I started on relaunching my Peaceful Living Wellness coaching business her in South Carolina. (see my moving and changing blog for background on why I’m relaunching.) In doing so I decided that I would do several things to promote my business:
- Get yoga classes going in my home.
- Start interacting more on social media.
- Get a new, updated look for my website.
- Plan a wellness fair in my neighborhood.
That seemed like a fairly easy plan to follow. I knew that it would be busy, but I also planned that life would calm down after the wellness fair.
THINGS DON’T ALWAYS GO ACCORDING TO PLAN…
Well, true to how life is, other things came up and filled in my schedule even more!
- My mom bought a house here in South Carolina and then subsequently needed help getting organized to move. So I needed to plan a last minute trip to San Diego.
- More business opportunities popped up – My friend Stephany from Travellesence and I are planning a wellness cruise!
- I offered to help on a planning committee for a 2018 convention for a volunteer organization I belong to & then had to not only go to planning meetings, but also go to the 2017 convention.
- And of course, springtime is always so busy for the kids as the school year is coming to an end.
Still, I knew that all of this was going to be busy, busy, but I also knew that it was going to be for a set amount of time. As long as you’re in a good place to begin with IT’S OKAY TO BE ON THE TREADMILL FOR A SET AMOUNT OF TIME.
PEACEFUL LIVING DON’TS!
Here’s where I went wrong and caused my stress levels to go up:
- I LET IT GO ON TOO LONG!
- I TOOK ON TOO MANY RESPONSIBILITIES TO PEOPLE ALONG THE WAY!
The details of both of those things are covered in the IT SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA AT THE TIME blog.
So here’s the TAKE HOME MESSAGE:
Make sure that if you have to get on the treadmill of being busy, it is for a set and short amount of time. Just like if you were running on a treadmill in the gym you can’t stay on it forever, you will run out of energy. Unlike the treadmill in the gym, our bodies don’t build up stamina for stress. You can not take on more and more and more thinking your body will build endurance. It WILL NOT BUILD ENDURANCE TO STRESS. Our bodies break down from stress.
Make sure that after the busy time is over you take EXTRA TIME FOR SELF NURTURE. Just like after runner finishes a race, she needs to take extra time to rest her body and to take care of her body with things like massages and therapy pools. So you need to take time to REST & REJUVENATE your body after a particularly busy time as well.
Make choices during your busy time to NOT take on more than you originally set out to take on! Learn to say NO to people when they ask you to do something! You can very mindfully say, “you know, I would love to help you out with that, but I’m in a particularly busy time right now so I’m unable to. However, I will let you know when things calm down for me and perhaps I can help you out at that time.”
ARE YOU ON THE TREADMILL???
Would you like some help getting off?
I’m here to help! Schedule a consult today to see if my Well-Life Coaching program is for you!
In Love & Gratitude!
Jen
www.facebook.com/peacefullivingwellness
jennifer@peacefullivingwellness.com
843-608-0873 Texts Appreciated!
