How crazy is life recently? I mean seriously! I remember as a child, a year felt like a lifetime and now as an adult, a year passes with the blink of an eye. I've came to the conclusion its because we take on more and more as humans and have very little down time. You wake up and you are full steam ahead and then its bedtime to recharge the batteries and then all it all begins again.
Around three years ago I decided that in the midst of all the madness, I was prioritising me. Taking time to really look after myself was my number one priority. I was a newly qualified Social Worker and my goodness was it stressful. I would work late, start early and barely took a lunch break. When I think back, I think why? Why did I do that to myself. The answer is, I wanted to please, I wanted to be the 'Yes' girl and prove that nothing would be too much for me to handle. Well it was too much to handle and I ended up off work with stress related alopesia. This was my wakeup call to slow down, say no and set personal boundaries. Have you ever experienced burnout? If so, reach out. I've been there, wore the t-shirt.
What was my signs that I was reaching burnout?
I would binge eat aaallllll the time. Eat, eat and eat. I ate my feelings (and occasionally still do but I'm much more in control).
I was irritable! This was annoying because I knew I was getting annoyed at the simplest of things. I'm such a laid back person that of course my family noticed!
I was constantly tired. I could sleep forever and still not feel well rested.
I was lethargic and lacked motivation.
and...…. I was so consumed with anxiety. Constantly felt a heavy tight feeling in my chest. It increased as I went to work each day because I knew it was just adding to my stress. Luckily, when I began to slow down, this stopped and I found coping strategies to manage my anxiety.
What did I do to improve my overall health and wellbeing?
I SLOWED DOWN! I did take 4 weeks off my work which was needed. But, I also got back into practicing Yoga, Breathwork, Sound Baths and Reiki. I love holistic therapies and wanted to find ways to help myself going forward in life. I listened to my body both physically and mentally. We never ignore a physical pain/illness but we tend to ignore our mental health. This is perhaps down to the stigma that is STILL associated with mental health illnesses. Can you imagine a world where physical health was seen and treated as important as mental health?
Anyway, I had practiced Yoga since I was around 16 (21 years ago) so this wasn't new to me but breathwork, Sound Baths and Reiki was. I wont go into these today, that's for another topic but this helped me manage my emotions and stress and I've never looked back.
What do you do to find your calm?
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