Attention: Are You Doing Too Much?
Attention: Are You Doing Too Much?
Yup, I sure have been doing too much!
Coming into 2022, I had all these grand plans and ideas to take on since I would have all this free time. Well, let me tell you, though those were and still are great ideas, and plan to keep them, 3 weeks into January and I realized I couldn't take them all on and do them within a short period of time. Seriously though, what was I thinking?! Once again, I found myself in a place of overwhelm- a feeling all too familiar- physical, mental, emotional fatigue, forgetful, difficult concentrating, heart palpitations, not sleeping well, random bouts of anxiety and sadness, and feeling like I have so much to do but don’t do any of it because it is too much. It's kind of exhausting reading those symptoms.
Over the weekend, I visited a loved one who I hadn't seen for a few months: We were just catching up and talking about how disastrous the pandemic has been (are we still in a pandemic?) and impacting all of us, especially around the holidays. We proceeded to talk and give updates on how each of our individual lives have been. As I was telling her about the chaos that has been present in life, she simply stated something along the lines of: sometimes things don’t go as planned and that sometimes we just need to take some things off our list and not do everything at once. And truthfully, I know this. I am a therapist- I say this to my clients as well. But in that moment, I needed to not be the therapist who does everything, and need to be Daria, the human, that at times needs to hear things like this.
The following day, I was talking to my BFF during our weekly Yoga Teacher Training session, and she said the same thing: maybe you should take it easy this week. Ugh, how I do not want to listen to either of them, but there came a point where I told myself that it is something I needed to do for my own wellbeing. So, after taking Sunday afternoon to think about what my loved ones said to me, I decided to shift the focus on to what I needed right now, rather than what I have to do in order to accomplish all the goals I set out to do.
I think this is where something called harmony comes into place. Finding harmony is something that comes from within, and not exactly through external factors. This kind of ties in with my previous blog post. When we shift our focus on things outside of us and drift away from what is within, then we become in disharmony with ourselves. So at least for today, let us let go of judgment, take some things off our list, and focus on finding that harmony, balance, and peace within us.
So, I am doing as I was told- I took it easy this morning:
Drank my tea in my valentine’s day gnome mug
I went for a 20-minute walk with my aunt, which was lovely
Did a 20-minute workout
Meditated outside under the sun, which was super healing and rejuvenating
After I meditated, I stayed outside for a bit and watched the hummingbirds pass by
I slowly started to get ready for my day to see clients, which has been pretty easy going so far.
What has made the biggest difference so far is that I have been slowing down to smell the roses and be present.
Obviously, this is a work in progress, and it always will be- but having it in one's awareness, at least for me, makes a big difference.
Thank you for being here.
Sending you lots of light, love, and blessings.
Daria Stepanian, LMFT