How often do you convince yourself you're too busy to take a break? It's a story that is not serving you. Every time you talk yourself out of nourishment, you're telling yourself you don't deserve it.
I’m Dinah Liversidge and I’m a Coach and Trainer, a Celebrant and co-host of The Charcoal Hut, a woodland cabin in Myddfai, Carmarthenshire. I’m also a no-box-thinker. I believe when we stop trying to ‘think outside the box’ we take away labels and limitations that were always an illusion. There never was a box.
I love being a Coach, a Celebrant and a Host. All these aspects of my life help me achieve that illusive ‘work-life balance’ so many seem to be striving for. Join me in Myddfai in our woodland garden for a #MyddfaiMinute and listen to one minute of birdsong. I hope it brings you some peace.
If you’d like to explore Coaching, take a look at my Mindset Coaching here.
I hope you’re enjoying my Podcasts. I’d love you to share them with someone you think would get something positive from them.
Dinah
Speaker 1:
Hi there. I'm Dinah Liversidge. Thanks for joining me on my no- box-thinking podcast. This is the third episode in my 10 short podcasts for February. And this month I'm focusing on how we can nurture and nourish our mindset. So, today I wanted to talk about how often you hear yourself saying I didn't have time for myself, or there are things I have to do before I can make time for myself, or I was way too busy to be getting the message. You know, it's interesting. It's always fascinated me. How often we do this and why we do it because it's almost so that we can say you see, I told you so, but who on earth do we think we're telling nobody else cares that you're so busy in your head that you've decided you're not worthy of a bit of nurture or the right amount of nourishment? Well, I say nobody, there are people who care about it, but not on the level that justifies you, turning it into a drama. And often I think it's important when we get to that space that we ask ourselves, why do I choose to repeat this behavior? What am I actually getting out of failing to look after myself? Why would I choose to do that? Because here's the thing you stop. And you look around at the people in life that you admire, the people you'd like to emulate. The people that you hear other people talking about and saying great things about are they running around like headless chickens and never making time to look after themselves? The thing is most people have have days or weeks where they're genuinely hugely busy, but most people also learn that if we don't look after ourselves, something's going to give. And so it's really, really worth stopping for a minute and asking, what's more important. Me getting this done now, or me getting this done. Well, I remember I used to convince myself in my old corporate jobs that I didn't have time for a lunch, lunch breaks up a sissies. That's what they used to say in the eighties. Isn't that appalling, but that's why there was a whole generation of us working at our desks, which by the way, is a pretty disgusting idea. When you think about all the germs in your keyboards. But anyway, that that was the impact. It had this whole idea that if you needed a lunch break, clearly you weren't really up to the task. Absolute nonsense. Because when you looked at the senior managers, the ones who had really climbed their way up with reputation with credibility, the ones we all looked up to and respected late at lunch breaks every day. And in fact, they often left the office on time to, well, many of us didn't so convinced by our own busy-ness that we really weren't not looking after ourselves. How often are you the first person in and the last person to leave in a working day? You know, there are people working from home who are really concerned that their boss doesn't think they're working enough, so they're just not stopping. But eventually that will impact both mentally and physically your ability to do your job. And also your own general wellness. I know that when I'm over tired and not able to sleep, if I look back on how I got there, it's often because I'm just not giving myself nurture and nourishment. I'm not stopping at lunchtime. I'm not spending my tree time. I live. I'm very fortunate that I live in a small Woodland and I make a point at least twice a day, or going and spending time with the trees because they just have this glorious impact on me. I find them calming. I find them grounding. And if I don't do that, I end up getting less done, feeling more pressured and also not sleeping as well. So allowing yourself to notice when you are doing busy-ness and therefore stopping that and saying, you know what, instead, I'm going to give myself some time for nourishment. I'm going to give myself some time for nurturing. I'm going to step away and step out of this space, be refreshed. I'm going to top up my energy so that I can come back and give and be, and do all these incredible things. But without that nourishment, whether it's spiritual or physical or something, you're going to sit neat because you adore it, whatever it is that nourishment is so vital to your wellness and for you to maintain that positive and open mindset. How about tomorrow? You just pick one thing that you can identify and set aside as doing busy and take the time you would have spent on that to find something that rarely nourishes you. I'd love to know what it is. Why not tweet with me@DinahLiversidge and let me know, how did you nourish yourself when you decided just one thing you could put assigned? I hope you'll join me for the next episode. A nd do remember there really absolutely is no box.