A few weeks ago, I was sitting at dinner with a close girlfriend who is also a very accomplished entrepreneur. We were getting caught up on life, love and work, and she was sharing with me all that she had been up to in the past several months. When we circled around to her work, she shared…
“I am just so tired, Nisha. I feel like all I do is work, and I’m completely burnt-out and exhausted.”
I could see the exhaustion in her eyes. Me: When was the last time you took a weekend off? Her: I can’t remember. Me: How often do you just power off your phone and go play? Her:I don’t, really. She’d done what so many ambitious women do: She had learned over the years how to infuse more self-care into her busy schedule, but never really took enough time to rest and play. Her self-care was starting to feel shallow, and I could see that she desperately needed to practice the art of self-care in a deeper way.
While we were talking, I shared with my friend, “When I became single, I found myself slipping back into old habits. While I never slipped back to my worst behaviors, I started working longer hours and keeping my phone on through weekends more often than not. I started sleeping less and falling asleep watching movies. I started eating more plainly, because I was uninspired to cook for one. I realized that I was behaving like I was waiting for a reason to truly live.” I shared my prescription with her:
Treat every moment as if you were spending it with your love…because you are. It’s you. {tweet it}
When I started behaving like my Love was by my side all the time, I went to bed early and read poetry, I cooked gorgeous food, and spent more time playing outside with friends. I was more efficient and productive at work, so I could wrap up in time for an adventure. Self-love in action.
Clockwise from top left: A dance performance at a night out with friends; Quiet mornings at my altar; A cozy evening with myself; Taking time to snuggle with the pup.
Have you been waiting for a reason to live?
I know it can be tempting to buy into the idea that things will be different when you’ve finished the next launch, emptied out your inbox, fallen in love, made a bit more money… It can be tempting to believe that those things will enable us to live the lives we yearn to be living. But the truth is:
Your life is happening now, and it’s your honor and responsibility to live it. {tweet it}
There is no way that you can do your great work in the world, inspire others to live extraordinary lives, feel healthy and grounded, and wake up feeling empowered and inspired, if you’re waiting.
YOUR MISSION:
Take a moment and write a short list of the things you’d do if you had the [time, money, relationship, body] you’ve been waiting for, and start doing them. It’s the small daily decisions – from choosing a different outfit, to focusing more intently at work so we can go play when we’re done, to making a beautiful breakfast – that make a massive difference in our quality of life.
It’s time to be your own reason to live.
—> In the comments below, share with us some of the ways that “waiting” shows up in your day-to-day, and what you’re going to do to change it, starting today.
Really great post. Sometimes i feel like that!
Thanks for reminding me the importance of being in love with myself.
Love Nisha!
Thank you for reading, Caro.
I love to see you loving yourself.
xox
Nisha
Great post.
Self-care has been on my agenda for a long time, and since getting busier I’m finding I have to do smaller doses of self-care during the day. Even if sitting quietly for 5 minutes between clients and re-setting my system, or being happy and grateful for a 30 minutes walk in the morning a opposed to a 90 minutes walk – of course, I want and need those 90 mins, but I am finding it valuable to not drop the self-care even if it is the PERFECT version of self-care.
But good reminder – when did I have a weekend off? Hum….?
I’ll have to work on that one.
Thank you so much, Irene.
I totally hear you and I totally agree —
something is way better than nothing.
Sometimes we ditch it all when we
could still have some of it…
So, have you had a weekend off?
Much love,
Nisha
Wow
Reading that has certainly made me reexamine my motives to change and I will add that to my list of positive posts
Forgot to add my thanks 🙂
Great, Carol. Thank you for reading
and I’m so happy to ‘meet’ you 🙂
Much love,
Nisha
This post is perfect timing for me! I’ve been so focused on building my business that I really haven’t taken the time to take care of me, and when I am taking time off it’s just watching TV and laying on the couch. This is a great reminder that I need to do more than that and really infuse more fun and more movement in my life. Thank you!!
Great, Melissa! What fun and movement
feel most inspiring to incorporate?
xox
Nisha
Hey Nisha…
“Life is what we dare to make out of it” is so true.
I totally agree with you. I believe that in our search for getting things
Or accomplishing our goals we forget how to enjoy those small and
Precious moments of our lives.
We are so afraid to be by ourselves, just being…
Without doing anything that we try to fill our schedule with whatever
Comes to our minds or with whatever people demand from us.
I say let’s stop doing and take a moment to be.
Let’s be ourselves, feel the love of our surrendings and let’s appreciate every single minute of our lives.
Thanks Nisha.
Beautiful, Nelson. Thank you so much
for this, and I totally agree.
Life is so precious and we often miss
the appreciation of it because we’re
moving too fast.
Big hugs,
Nisha
Thx for sharing..its a beautiful post..in our day to day lives we get so engrossed wth routine, that even if we r not single, we tend to be careless about our self…Goal for 2014, more time for self care 🙂 Thank you !!
Awesome, Juhi! As one of my teachers
once said: “Self-care is sexy”
…in case you needed any more motivation 🙂
Big hugs,
Nisha
Thank You!
You’re welcome, dear Lex!
Thanks for reading 🙂
Nisha, my dear, you have hit the nail on the head again!
This is what I am constantly working on and helping my clients (especially those who are coaches) learn how to do: take more time for yourself! I have been taking weekends off (mostly), going to bed earlier, stopping working at 5. It has actually made me happier, more productive, and has led to more clients (without any extra effort! HELL YEAH!)
You rock. Thanks for sharing your brilliance with us each week. I don’t think this topic can be talked about or shared enough. We (entrepreneurs) still don’t seem to get it when it comes to self-care.
I’m making my list of things I’d do right now, and I commit to taking next weekend (the WHOLE weekend off) – no checking email or responding to it, no writing copy or blogs, nothing business-related (even if I find it fun). Just pure pleasure for the whole weekend (kicking off with a massage Saturday morning).
Thanks for the inspiration & reminder to live a full life NOW! <3
Beautiful, Shannon. Thank you for the love.
It has been such a pleasure to witness your
unfolding over the past several years.
How have your weekends been?
xox
Nisha