Do What You Love

You might feel that what with the busy busy busy of our modern lives, that it is next to impossible to slow down and put your needs first. However, in my line of business I see all too often that people are run ragged and are exhausted and have increasingly low mood.

This is a worry. My background as a naturopath means I know all too well what chronic stress does to the body. It is so important we learn to prioritise our health and wellbeing above everything else. Or else.......

Trust me I know what burnout feels like and it is not nice. It is a battle to get yourself back on track and to not slip into bad old habits. This blog is not about burnout per say. It is more about one of the antidotes to stress, anxiety and to some degree burnout. With burnout you need rest first and foremost. But you need to recognise that self care is instrumental in its correction. That involves doing.....what you love.

It may seem hard to believe that something as simple as self care can help us. You have work, the kids drop off and pick up, appointments, housework and the dog needs walking. Well I am sorry but you need to find at least five minutes a day just for you. It is like exercising a muscle. It is retraining your brain from go go go and focussing on others to settling and centring and focussing on yourself. To bring a stillness. Trust me I have always worked two jobs, studied, been a single mum and had friends and a boyfriend at one point who all needed a piece of me. But I learnt the hard way.

So The title of this blog post is do what you love and that means sitting down and deciding what it is that you love to do or what it is that you always wanted to do. Then on a piece of paper writing down how to make it happen. Make a list of chores, delegate who can do then and then maybe find someone or some way that the kids can get taken care of. There has to be a way.

Now doing what we love can be napping. Sleeping. After all it is probably what your body craves. Or you might like hiking, jogging, the gym, crafting, reading, cooking, volunterring. What ever it is do more of that. Take up meditation, yoga, pilates. Drum lessons (eek!), ballroom dancing or a short course of interest.

The title of this blog is a wake up call to act on those desires you know you have but have been putting off. Stop the shame and guilt for Pete's sake!! You need to pour back into that cup right? What I am talking about is calming the nervous system. Turning fight and flight into rest and digest. Creating happiness and calm in your life. you can do it. I know you can.

So that is my lecture for the day.

Lisa