If you’re anything like me, you need to feel productive all the time, or you feel like you’re somehow failing. While this isn’t a healthy mindset, society puts so much pressure on the “hustle”.
This is difficult when we are also trying to take care of our minds and bodies at the same time.
I’m a scheduler. I need everything in my day to be mapped out. This is partly because I have so much trauma-induced memory loss that I would simply forget many of the tasks I need to do if I don’t write them out. And partly because if I don’t schedule time to do certain things, I would tell myself “I’ll do it tomorrow”.
When I was “hustling” to try to make as much money as possible (because I thought that might make me happy) I was working 80 hour weeks, juggling being a mom, a wife, and a working artist. I felt like I was living life at 70 miles an hour. Always doing the next thing that needed to be done. I wasn’t carving out time for myself.
During this time, I experienced the most visceral burnout of my life. I was sick all the time, my immune system was weak, and I was so depressed I barely had energy to feed myself.
I took a step back and evaluated what was important to me. I thought about the times in my life when I felt the most joy and peace. I then started working on finding the right formula to feel that kind of peace in my life again.
Part of the winning formula for me is scheduling time for the things that help me feel balanced and more like myself. I carve out time daily for yoga, meditation, art, writing, & music. But more than that, I carve out time for eating lunch, and even doing nothing.
It doesn’t have to be hours worth of “scheduled joy”. It can be 15 minutes here, 15 minutes there. But in those moments of peace, you can find yourself. Maybe even a happier, healthier version of yourself.