It doesn’t happen often, but every now and then I find myself absolutely needing to press pause.
Last week felt like everything just came to a head – with the end of summer, lots of weekends out of town in a row, work being extra hectic, and a lot of personal things that I’m not ready to share just yet I really found myself struggling to keep my head afloat and do anything other than the minimum requirement to get through the day.
Heavy on my mind and heart have been those in affected by both Harvey and Irma – all of my days’ events and worries are completely minuscule in the bigger scheme of life and last week was one of those weeks where I took a step back and really remembered that.
The feeling of being completely overwhelmed in almost every facet of life is not something I’m used to honestly. I consider myself an extremely organized and task oriented person who is constantly on the go and multi-tasking. In fact, the last time I was sick recently I couldn’t believe once I slowed down how much I normally do in a day – even the thought of it all sounded exhausting!
I’m sure there are others who can relate, but if I feel like I’m not doing things to the best of my ability or that I’m not able to get everything done in the normal course of the week (especially a few weeks in a row) I get really down on myself and feel (as dramatic as it may sound) like a little bit of a failure. It never really crosses my mind that I’m possibly doing too much, my mind drifts to “I’m not doing it all well enough”.
Comparison is the thief of joy – I’m sure you’ve heard that before and it rings true (not as often as it did when I was younger) on occasion. I’ve found myself lately comparing what I’m doing and what I’m able to accomplish to people with completely different lives and schedules. Truth be told I spend a lot of my time frustrated with how little time I have to dedicate to my blog. When I finally do have those moments to sit down and work during the week late nights after a full work day I find myself exhausted and uninspired. When I have the time and creativity to write, I try to write as much as I can. It comes in waves and is difficult to constantly create stories that I think will inspire you guys or be worth reading.
When it comes down to it I had to remind myself that no only is there no one else with my life and my responsibilities, but truly no one else like me. In shifting the focus away from what I wasn’t doing I was able to focus on the positives and things that really lift me up. Luckily I also had my best friends from growing up in town this weekend which really lifted my spirits in so many ways. My family and friends are everything to me and sometimes with a quick reminder of who you are and where you came from it’s just what you need to press play again.
Life ebbs and flows and I’m so grateful to be surrounded by inspiring and loving people on a daily basis. We all have our good and bad days, weeks and months and it’s those people who can help lift you up when you are having trouble doing that on your own.
The moral of the story to start this fresh week?
Sometimes you need to give yourself a big hug and cut yourself some slack.
P.S. – As I went to schedule this post I realized that today is September 11th. Echoing what I said above, there are larger things in life that we should all take a step back to remember today and every day. When I see Freedom Tower heading home everyday I’m reminded of the lives lost and forever changed by that tragic day – my thoughts are with their families and all those who continue to defend our nation today.Â
