This is All Your Fault

When you are stressed, the first thing you might ask: Why is this happening to me?

Today’s demands of work, family, social, and just being - all mixed with a bit of quarantine - it’s easy to feel stressed. Throw in a bit of news - ANY news - and you have a surefire recipe for stress. We live in a culture where people are applauded for their ability to thrive in stressful situations. 

You gotta be a boss lady and OWN IT in the workplace. Also, you need to be the perfect kind of June Cleaver or Carol Brady mom at home - dinner on the table, children neat and perfectly pressed, house in perfect order.

Also, you need to train for that 5K, and help your kids with their homework, get yourself ready for swimsuit season (whatever that means), get ready to host that book club, and catch up on hours of podcasts, and get 8 hours of sleep, and….

Yeah, I get it, you’re stressed out.

I also don’t feel bad for you, because it’s all your fault.

There are only 24 hours in a day - how many of them are FOR YOU? When people come to me for coaching, they are stressed out beyond belief because they just weren’t equipped to handle what they think life demands of them. When they get stressed, they start to compromise. The first thing that gets compromised is their health: sleep, diet, and exercise.

I work with high performers who want to do more with their lives, and the first step is always managing their mindset to know how to take things in stride. Everyone has a million different productivity suggestions on how to do more in less time, how to be more efficient, more effective.

I’m starting to ask my friends and clients: Would you expect anyone else to do what you are trying to do? 

There is nothing romantic to feeling like you need to be a superhero to deal with your day to day life. “Productivity” is nice, but I think most of us need to find a way to do less. 

Just, do less.

Did you know you can read a book without having to join a book club? Or that you don’t have to stay on top of all of the news and podcasts? You don’t have to respond to every email or text message or call everyone back! It’s true! Just leave them on “read” and go take a nap

Did you know you’re allowed to take a walk? Just...walk? Not to go anywhere or to “get exercise,” but to just do nothing for a little bit?

Taking on a simpler lifestyle is not a step backward. If anything, it’s a way to move forward. 

I tell my clients: you can do anything you want. ANYTHING. But you can’t do everything. You were the person who expected you to take on everything and do it all with a smile. No one asked you to do it, so give yourself a break. 

You have my permission to do less, remove the stress, and get back to taking care of yourself.