Well, I managed to take the month of October off. I worked only one full day after the 2nd of the month. Although I did have a couple of 40 minute meetings the first full week just to finish up my event, the rest of the month, I did only what I felt like doing.
The first Monday morning, I woke up and FELT like writing my newsletter. I actually can’t tell you the last time I just FELT like writing rather than having to schedule it or being on a deadline. Even though it was “work,” it wasn’t in the plan. As a matter of fact, I didn’t have a plan the entire month.
One day, I felt like going to the regional high school boys’ tennis tournament in Pueblo, so I got up and went. One weekend, Joe and I decided to head to the mountains to go watch his college play football as they’re having a stellar year.
One Thursday night, I felt like seeing my dad and spending time in the mountains and so I headed up and played outside as much as possible for three days. I hiked a few times through the month, and I played A LOT of tennis and took a bunch of tennis lessons. And, guess what? Some days I did NOTHING. I napped and read and just hung out. Weird, right?
What I will tell you is that I SLEPT better than I’ve slept in years because I didn’t have any stories or plans running in the background of my brain. I didn’t wake up in the middle of the night or at 4 am. And each day, I woke up refreshed and ready to get out of bed (which sometimes was 6, sometimes, 7, sometimes later!). And my dark circles were gone!
By the time November hit, I was ready to jump back in to serving my people and working my business. The luxury of time for a month while not on vacation or out of town was truly transformational and I feel like my entire system has been reset.
I would love for you to think about how to give yourself the GIFT OF TIME.
Here are some ideas:
- Look at your calendar and see if you can find three days that are NOT scheduled and block them off. And don’t make a plan at all. I just had a client do this, and she has been able to dig into parts of her business that she’s needed to look at (because she had space, not because she had a plan), she’s gone bike riding in the middle of the day, and she’s been able to just dream and scheme a bit.
- Unplug! There is nothing so freeing as turning off your electronics for a day—socials, television. YouTube, etc. What I find incredible about this practice is that you find out all the things you will do or feel like doing when the pull of the scroll isn’t there. I have cleaned my office, pulled out a house project, and read. It’s amazing how much time the phone sucks that we don’t even realize.
- Try taking at least a half day a week off where you do something just for YOU. This is time to get outside, to recreate, to take a drive, to craft, to do something that actually fills your soul . This is not massage or facial or a mani-pedi. This is about you filling up and doing things you haven’t done regularly for a while.
Here’s an article about the importance of taking breaks and time off