The thing we forget slips through the cracks, no matter how loud the reminders get.
The thing we forget doesn’t beg for attention, no matter how much we need it.
The thing we forget can fill us with pride or shame once we realize we’ve forgotten it.
The thing we forget is how to take care of ourselves.
As far back as 1500 BCE, the Vedic sages wrote about the connection between physical health and mental clarity as a path to well-being. Today, if you tweak your Instagram algorithm juuuuuust right, you’d think the sages were making a comeback. Plastic-free leggings! Mushroom coffee! Puffy face drainage exercises! The sad truth about lentils! So many wellness remedies at our fingertips. Yet, they don’t seem to be supporting a less stressful existence.
It took me years to figure this out for myself. Let me take you on my three-phase adventure from mayhem to mindfulness. It may look something like yours:
Phase 1: When I was first asked about my self-care routine during an interview a decade ago, I sneered. That’s for lazy people, I said. Hard-working business owners don’t do self-care, I said.
Phase 2: Five years later, I arrived late to my coworking space without my entry card, wallet, or laptop charger. I also forgot that I had a speaking gig (!?!) that afternoon. I spent the morning going back and forth with my divorce attorney and that afternoon, I bumped into a friend who asked, "Are you taking any time for yourself these days?” I had no idea what she meant. “Time for yourself” wasn’t on my radar yet. I gave her a strong thumbs up and kept walking. I continued my burnout behavior for several more years.
Phase 3: Well past rock bottom, I was tired of being tired and too fearful to name it burnout because that meant failure. I didn’t know a way out. But I knew was that what I was doing wasn’t working anymore. It took weeks of schedule surgery to block out space and stop the overwhelm. It took months to draw boundaries with the people, events, and social media platforms I loved. It took years for me to realize those boundaries weren’t for other people. They were for me.
Right now, everybody I know seems to be saving the world in their own way. Maybe you’re helping people through hard times. Maybe you’re knee-deep in activism. Maybe you’re raising good citizens. Maybe you’re building a better business to better our world.
Whatever you’re doing, don’t forget to save yourself, too.
jill
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