Listen to your body; it's never wrong

 Yesterday afternoon I was exhausted. 

I recognized it right away. 

In the past, I would have pushed it aside and just powered through.

But instead, I listened deeply to what my body was trying to tell me.

rest

rest

rest

It's not that I've been working extra hours lately, but energetically, my body was feeling depleted from holding space Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

So instead of finishing the work I had intended to do. I gave myself a hall pass.

Once a week, I use my hall pass to move things around that I commit to doing early in the week.

When I schedule my week on Monday, I have the best intentions, but I cannot always account for how I will feel towards the middle and end of the week, so I need to have structure and be flexible. 

So what did I do instead?

I turned off my phone and computer.

I took a walk, took a bath, and tucked myself into bed an hour early. 

And the best part?

I was kind to myself. I loved myself, and I gave myself exactly what she needed.

Instead of waking up this morning and "hustling" to catch up on the work I didn't do yesterday, I decided to start slow.

I planned for a "me morning" I woke up without an alarm, snuggled my daughter, worked out, got smoothies with a friend, and ran some errands, and you know what? It felt SO amazing.

I consciously CHOOSE to do those things. I planned for them, and when you PLAN ahead of time, you purposefully choose to feel different emotions.

There's no guilt. There are no shoulds.

I made my decisions, loved my reasons, and took action from a place of acceptance and understanding.

The best part was when I sat down to start work for the day only an hour and a half later than I usually do, I felt refreshed, energized, and focused.

Another reminder of why slowing down is the key to getting more done.