Stop Pushing Through
Your body has been trying to tell you something. It is time to listen.
What do you do when you are mentally, emotionally, or physically spent? Do you push through and keep going? Or do you stop and give yourself the rest you need?
Based on the schedule I set for myself, this letter should have gone out yesterday. But I did not have it in me.
For the past month I have been planning a trip to Europe, spent ten days joyfully experiencing Paris and several cities in Italy, returned home, recovered from a six hour time difference, and a week later traveled to South Carolina for a wedding. The next day I was off to Virginia for a few days and now I am preparing to head back to South Carolina for my Sorority meeting.
Yesterday, my mind and body said no to writing a letter. And I concurred.
I listened to myself and waited for the moment when this letter would emerge. Because inspiration cannot be forced. You must be in a space for it to find you. Meet you. Visit you.
Stress, busyness, and force block the flow. When you step away and trust that what you need will come at the right time, it always does.
This is the message that arrived for you this morning.
Stop pushing through.
Society has decided that whoever does the most, stays in the office the longest, and stresses themselves out the hardest should be celebrated. The one who denies her own needs to meet those of others gets praised. And I want to be direct with you about that standard.
It is a bunch of crap and it is costing you your life.
Giving the best of yourself away and getting little to nothing in return is not strength. It is not noble. It is not sustainable. And it is not what you were created for.
Your body has signaling systems in place to protect you and to support you in living the life God designed for you to live. Your emotions are a warning system letting you know when you are out of balance. Your body signals when it is tired. Your mind gets foggy when it is carrying too much. Your spirit gets loud when you are moving in a direction not aligned with your best interest.
The signs are always there. But the push through mentality teaches you to bypass them. Ignore them. Silence them. Until something stops you cold and you have no choice but to listen.
Do not wait for that moment. Start listening now.
This is the work I do with the women. Inspiring and guiding them as they reconnect with the four parts of themselves they were taught to ignore. The mental. The emotional. The physical. The spiritual. When all four are heard and honored, life begins to make sense again.
My gift to you today is this reminder. The answers you have been searching for are already inside you. How to slow down. How to stop feeling overwhelmed. How to be present in your own life. How to laugh, embrace, and actually enjoy the life you have been given.
It starts with listening to yourself. The four parts of you. Mental. Emotional. Physical. Spiritual.
They have been speaking all along.
And what comes from that place will always be better than anything you could have forced.
This letter is a day late. And it is exactly what it needed to be.
No more pushing through for me. What about you?