Last week my therapist asked me to look at the list of things I feel like I have to do each day and come up with some items to take off of there (to help with my burnout). The goal is to make time to actually relax and not feel like I’m rushing from thing to thing.
I was (internally) like “What?! Impossible!” Immediately my mind went into a defense mode of “I NEED TO DO ALL OF THESE THINGS” and “the only things I can get rid of are work and chores and errands!” (ha ha, I wish)
In reality, we decided setting timers on Instagram would be a good start, and I suggested I could work out less.
And I’m here to report that I survived and it went well!
Setting the timers on Instagram became a little game of me making sure I did not spend any extra time on there. And I’ve noticed people are interacting with me less, the less I’m on there, so that’s great. That’s not sarcasm – I’m happy to be using it less and less as a tool for entertainment. (And it feels good to be present in my actual life and not using my phone as much.)
And I worked out less! And by less I mean only once a day. I was sometimes doing two walks a day. It makes me feel good, but it takes time.
Yesterday, after work, instead of doing something super productive, I laid in bed and read a book!
Starbuck joined me. It was great!
Then, last night, we rented a movie (Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves) and I mostly just sat and watched it (until I got bored a bit toward where we ended it).
Progress!
It seems silly to be proud of myself for purposefully relaxing, but here we are.
I plan to keep at it!
Did you – by any chance – ask how we can get some extra hours in our days? I mean, I would totally use those extra hours for relaxing. Pinky swear! 😉
But in all honestly, good for you for evaluating your time and making some changes to incorporate more mindfulness and relaxation. I think sometimes we might not even realize when we do “too much”.
Ha, I did not – you just have to be good with skipping something you feel like you SHOULD be doing. LOL. More to come on how that hits me later.
Reprioritizing is really hard for me, so thanks!
Good for you! My therapist made a similar suggestion and I didn’t take it nearly as well. I was basically like “no there is nothing I can cut out, I’m just too busy all the time, and that will never change.” I’m very good at getting in my own way 🙂 but maybe I don’t have to run and do strength and do mobility and stretching every day….
Thanks! I do encourage you to give it a try! Let me know if you do! <3 It feels good not to be on the go all the time.
I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!
I really wish I could get you and my friend Bri together. Both of you are extroverted enneagram 2s so I think there’s something about loving being around people/helping people/being seen as a helpful friend that makes relaxing very hard. It feels selfish, I guess? And it keeps the anxiety away, I’m sure! But you must prioritize yourself.
Even the stuff that we think makes us feel good (like going for walks!) can be detrimental to our overall well-being when we’re not giving ourselves enough time to rest. Timers are basically the only thing that work for me. I’m now cutting myself off all apps from 6:30pm-9:30pm every night, and it SUCKS but it’s good for me. I don’t need to be on my phone all the time!
Purposeful relaxing is something to be proud of, my extroverted, busy friend. <3
Thank you so much Stephany! 🥹
I wish I could get together with Bri too! When I listen to your podcast I like to think I could slip right in to your friend group. LOL. But yes, I do sometimes feel selfish and guilty when I take time off! But I never feel that way about someone else doing it, so, come on, Kim.
And yes – rest is so important physically too!
I am proud of YOU for doing that with your phone each night. That is good for you and I bet it will be routine soon and you’ll be so glad yu did it.
Thank you!!!! 🥹🥹🥹
Wow. I am so seriously impressed, Kim. You focused on yourself (for once!) and made yourself the priority, and you actually *did the thing*. That’s fantastic. I tell myself to do things like this (I will log off at 4 and spend the last hour-ish of my day reading something I WANT to read, as an example) and then… yeah. It doesn’t happen. So huge props to you. 🙂
Aww, thank you! When do you think it’s gonna happen for you?