Often, with any sort of health and wellness activity, we tell ourselves the lie “I’m too busy”. Laundry, cleaning, and grocery shopping all need done among many other tasks. We busy ourselves with all of these tasks and don’t even realize that we are refusing to make room for what truly matters. The laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, and everything else will get done. And I’m not saying that it doesn’t matter. It does matter, but maybe it’s not as much of an urgent matter as we make these tasks out to be.
When I get to the end of my life on Earth, I don’t want to be able to say that every Sunday the house was perfectly clean with all of the laundry and grocery shopping done. I want to be able to say that I spent time among the trees and hung my hammock up as often as possible. I want to be able to say that I traveled and went places that I hadn’t ever been before, and learned so many new things that most others don’t take the time to (not that I watched X amount of Netflix shows).
I want to live a full life—rich with experiences and memories, and no regrets.
I love keeping my house clean and organized, I enjoy all of it. But I am guilty of focusing too much on this and not on relaxation, restoration, and rejuvenation for my soul. I always find that when I’m struggling with blog post ideas, social media content, and podcast topics, it’s because there’s a disconnect. I’m focusing too much on the wrong things when this happens. I’m not creating space for myself, for creativity to flow and a greater connection within myself—mind, body, and spirit.
I want to encourage you to not wait until overwhelm consumes you, and to pay attention to what you really need. Time spent for our health and wellness should be a nonnegotiable part of our life and schedule—not something we don’t have time for.
It doesn’t matter if you always have your house perfectly clean or if you always eat healthy and drink enough water IF you don’t also manage your stress load. This is why when I’m tempted to continue checking off my own personal to-do list of tasks around the house, I’ve stopped myself and literally gotten into my car with my dog and my hammock tow. Because the quality, quiet time spent outdoors rejuvenates me, and lowers my stress.
There are so many examples of small things we can do that add up to a big impact on our overall health and wellness like sitting outside during the nicer months with a cup of coffee while enjoying the sunshine, going for a walk, and practicing meditation. As I dive deeper into mindfulness and meditation I realize how often thoughts are constantly buzzing around my mind, and how very rarely am I consciously focusing on the present moment.
A concept I am learning in my training to become a health coach (yes, I am for real doing it!) is crowding out. Instead of focusing on taking away things that may not be ideal for your health and wellness, focus on adding in good things for your health and wellness. So you are crowding out anything that is less than ideal, as you add in more and more good.
Ask yourself, what is one small thing you can do to feel rejuvenated on a soul level? I promise it can be really simple like for me, getting in a hammock and being among the trees.
Remember that you owe it to yourself to take care of yourself—mind, body, and spirit.