I left nothing behind. Gave every ounce I had, both on the day and in the lead up.
I awoke the next day drained, exhausted and still elated.
Time to rejoice, rejuvenate and restore……..I had earned it.
Celebratory lunch and dinner dates were planned. Make up lessons booked as treats to myself, followed up with some delicious retail therapy. Physical rejuvenation was scheduled as I planned for extra Yoga and Pilates.
I thought I had a perfect plan to feel fabulous and get it all done.
As the week sailed by my energy continued to dip and I began to run out of time. My appointments, tasks and activities became reschedules, cancellations and unchecked notes on my list.
My plan was more lack lustre than fabulous.
As someone who thrives on achievement and prides herself on follow through this was a yucky, awful pill to swallow……I had not done all that I said I would, all that I had planned.
I began to dissect each day, hoping to uncover the path my time and energy had simply disappeared down. I was on the hunt for that mysterious monster who had swallowed my mornings, devoured my afternoons and left me zapped of enthusiasm.
What had happened?????
And there was my answer……written boldly in my sparkly, green pen, straight across the bottom of my glorious plan. ‘Allow time for self renewal’.
I recalled the exhaustion I felt when I wrote those words and my desire to refuel when my emotional, mental and physical reserves were at an all time low.
I wisely knew I was in need of restorative time to rejuvenate my mind, my body and my soul.
Somehow as my mind and body screamed out for LESS I had filled my life with MORE.
As quickly as I refuelled, I depleted myself by racing around.
Allowing space for self renewal is not a time driven plan, it is not slavery to the clock and it is not racing from one appointment to another.
It is intuitive moments of unstructured time, free from guilt and expectation to quite simply just be.
When you feel your reserves are low, instead of scheduling relaxing activities why not allocate time to do nothing?
Moments to simply listen to the desires of the body and the mind and indulge your secret whims.
Space for self renewal is time for you and we all need to allow more time for this.
Tell me, how do you renew and restore?
i do my best to make time for it and I have to admit I often fail.
Tat, self renewal is often forgotten on the list of ‘To Do’. Book it first, go on, live outrageously and restore yourself first.
I’ve tried to get better about not making myself crazy to meet self-imposed deadlines (like a certain number of blog posts per week!), especially if I feel like I just need some time to recharge. A friend of mine taught me the beauty of the 15 minute rest period. I set my phone alarm for 15 minutes then lie down and just focus on completely relaxing every inch of my body. Sometimes I nod off, usually I don’t but when the time is up I feel refreshed and not groggy like a nap would make me feel.
Mo, this sounds like my sort of ‘Nana Nap’. I am not one to want to sleep during the day but wow could I do with a 15 minute recharge sometimes. I will be giving this a go.
Oh yes. Self renewal is the thing that never makes its way to my to-do list but the thing that will definitely trip me up if I completely forget it. I needed this reminder this week. Thank you.
Tricia, self renewal is one of those important and non urgent tasks that we hope to get to and never seem to. Book it in lovely, and fill up your fuel tank.
I’m getting better at this. Just succumbed to a mid-day nap. 🙂
Oh Naomi sounds lovely