How to balance a busy life & take care of yourself!
It happens so often, we look at our busy schedule, and the first thing we cut is self-care.
But self-care is the only way we recharge our mental, physical, and emotional energy reserves. When we cut it out, we actually make life harder for ourselves!
And making the time for self-care is a win-win. Not only do you get what you need, but when you take care of yourself, you’re able to show up as the best (and most productive) version of you for everyone else in your life.
In today’s episode, I talk about how to find time for all the important things you want or need to include in your life – while still taking care of yourself!
There are a few important things you need in place to manage a busy life and still make sure you have enough time to take care of yourself.
Self-care isn’t optional
First, self-care needs to be on your list, and it needs to be a non-negotiable. If you aren’t taking care of yourself and refilling your mental, physical, and emotional energy reserves, you’re not going to be able to take care of anything or anyone else in your life.
Just like on an airplane when they instruct you to put on your air mask first in the event of loss of cabin pressure. You can’t take care of anyone else if you’re not first taking care of yourself.
Close your eyes for a moment. I want you to picture a beautiful teacup sitting in a beautiful saucer. You’re holding a teapot full of warm tea. Take a moment and feel the heat radiating out from the teapot. Breathe in and smell the aroma of the tea. Begin to pour the tea from the teapot into the teacup. Continue pouring as the teacup fills to the brim and the tea begins to run over the edge of the cup and into the saucer. Once the saucer is full, set the teapot down.
Now look at your teacup. The tea inside your teacup is the mental, physical, and emotional energy reserves you keep for yourself. The tea in the saucer, that’s what you have to give to others. The teapot represents your self-care and is the way that you refill your teacup and saucer.
If you deplete the tea in your teacup you not only have nothing left for yourself, but you have nothing left to give anyone else. This is why self-care is so critical to managing your busy life.
Getting clear on your unique priorities and values
Now that we’ve set a baseline, you need to get really clear on what’s actually important to you. That requires a hard look at your own unique priorities and values.
This post includes an exercise to help you begin to identify your own unique priorities and values. As you work through this, you might find that several things on your daily to-do list are actually important to someone else, but not that important to you.
Don’t forget healthy boundaries!
Which brings us to healthy boundaries and the ability to say no. Every yes is also a no. That means that when you say yes to something and add it to your busy schedule, you’re saying no to anything else you could have done with that time.
By bringing the items on your to-do list into alignment with your unique priorities, you make room in your schedule for the things that are actually important to you.
Getting started
To dip your toes into some of this work, check out my free Productivity Workshop which will teach you how to stop feeling like you’re always behind and take back control of your busy day, all while doing less, not more!
And one final note. Much of this is big work. A coach can help guide you through the process of developing these tools, working through this self-inquiry, and holding yourself accountable to keep going when it gets a little tough. If you want to learn more about what it looks like to work with me, sign up for a no-cost one-hour Discovery Session.
