If you are navigating some choppy waters right now, the first thing you probably need to do is stop to get your bearings.
When we’re in a challenging season, our thoughts are often moving at warp speed. What we most need is to slow things down.
Ironically, our brain is likely screaming at us to do the opposite.
“Slow down?! I need to speed up to keep up!”
“Stop?! I am paddling as fast as I can here — the current will carry me away if I ease up!”
“Hit pause?! Have you seen how full my calendar is?”
We’re going so fast we barely notice the exhaustion. Or that we might not be paddling in the right direction anymore.
Depending on the season we’re in, even vacation doesn’t feel like a pause. We substitute paid work for equally busy family work, and “a change is as good as a rest” doesn’t ring true.
When it’s hardest to stop is likely when we most need to.
What’s a busy person to do?
My first suggestion is to plan your pause well in advance and put it on the calendar, just as you would any other commitment. It’s a meeting with yourself. And if you can’t fit it in for ages, don’t be discouraged. Book it in anyway. Your future self will be proud of your current self to see it on your calendar when it comes up, and it will give you something to look forward to in the meantime.
My second suggestion is to reduce other friction that makes this hard. Maybe you’re open to planning a pause but are not sure how long to take or what to do with that time. Baby steps can build momentum. Here are a couple of ideas to provide some loose structure and ward off decision fatigue:
- Book off half a day and take a journal to a beautiful place that has a good lunch/coffee spot nearby. (If you aren’t sure what to write about, DM me for some prompts!)
- Find someone you know who leads retreats and sign up for an upcoming event that feels aligned with what you need. That way you don’t have to plan anything. Examples would be Whitney and Greg Boyd at Vienna Waits, Sarah Nicole Martin, or Julie Fotheringham and me.
If you are telling yourself you are too busy to pause, don’t believe everything you think.
