How to Live Your Best Busy Life
Inviting ease into every season
We all experience different seasons, and those seasons are not necessarily the same across all areas of our lives. I have seasons of busy-ness in my personal life and with work, and sometimes those overlap. Sometimes there is open-space with a lot of nothing-ness.
It is important that we look at our lives and map out our busy seasons, so that we can make sure to hold space for down time. We need to figure out how to create lives that are not always busy. We can’t always be on. We can’t always be in the thick of things.
When we are in our busy seasons, there are ways we can manage that time so that we don’t invite burn-out and end up overwhelmed.
During your busy season ask yourself:
Which area of your life is the most busy right now?
How can you decrease activity in the other areas of your life?
Are you accepting requests of your time and energy that push you beyond your capacity?
What can you say no to?
What activities make you feel relaxed? How can you incorporate those activities into your daily or weekly life?
What can you do to invite more ease into your life?
Even when we are in our busy seasons, we can feel some guilt around making life easier for ourselves. I saw someone post online that they felt guilty for having their groceries delivered. I thought to myself, “That probably actually saved money.” It may cost to have the food delivered, but I know when I go to the grocery store I end up picking up all kinds of random stuff, and the cost of all that stuff is probably triple the delivery fee. It’s ok to do things to make your life easier. Eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch every day. Initiate Pizza Fridays for dinner. There is nothing wrong with figuring out areas of your life where you can do less.
Part of intentional living is being aware of our busy seasons, and planning to have seasons that are not busy. As we add, we need to subtract. We need restful seasons. Whether it’s a week or a month, we need the break, and if you can’t rest in all areas of your life, you can rest in some of them. If you feel like you can’t rest at work or in your personal life, you can decide that you’re going to bed early every night. You can decide to take a 10 minute break in the middle of the day. You always have some choice and power over your time and schedule.
Journal Prompt
How do you invite ease into your busy seasons?
A Few Things That Caught My Attention This Week
Rest Easy: Discover Calm and Abundance through the Radical Power of Rest, by Ximena Vengoechea. This is an excellent manual for those of us who are learning how to rest more without guilt. You can find this book on Amazon and Bookshop.
Depression After Weaning Can Be a Serious Concern for Some New Moms, by Meeri Kim, in The Washington Post.
What Adults Forget About Friendship, by Rhaina Cohen in The Atlantic.
I Was Trying to Build my Son’s Resilience, Not Scar Him for Life, by Erik Vance in The New York Times.
How to Cultivate Hope When You Don’t Have Any, by Angela Haupt in Time.
I feel like there is a huge part of me that has wanted to improve my relationship with rest since last year. I am one of those people who always felt guilty about taking breaks, because I was never conditioned to slow down. I was only chasing and running. But I am finally experiencing what guilt free rest looks like and it is the most magical feeling ever. Even though life is still busy, now I make sure to sit in silence for 5 minutes daily. I recently started doing dance party workouts which are a lot of fun and good for movement. I try to wake up 15 minutes before my usual time just to breathe. I make my bed the first thing in the morning. All these things take less than 15 minutes but they are so good for my well being. I guess these were my learnings from the burnout I experienced last year.
This post was such a beautiful reminder to keep doing what I’m doing because I need it for my own peace.✨
Last week a part on my dishwasher broke. Normally I'd fret and worry about it and let it loom like a mountain in front of me, dark and shadowy. Instead I did some research, found out that I wasn't the first person with this broken part and won't be the last. I ordered the part and decided there would be no shame in buying paper plates and utensils to use until the part arrives. That put my mind at ease. The part has yet to arrive but I've found a simple joy in washing dishes after each meal, drying them and putting them away to reset the kitchen. My body and mind needed that statement - that there's no shame in using paper plates during this short season - to let go of any guilt or shame.