Unemployment was a bit of a Catch 22 for me. As difficult as it was living on a tight budget and stressing about finding work in a bleak economy, having so much free time was incredible. Maybe it’s because I was an only child for 10 years, but I’ve never had a difficult time keeping myself entertained. I have a never-ending to-do list and projects lined-up to last a lifetime, so for me, losing my job was more of a blessing in disguise; a time to relax, re-evaluate, re-center and just be.
In my year of joblessness, I successfully did just that. Fast forward through that year though, and here I am again: sleep deprived, pushing pixels around in front of a glowing monitor all day, eating Trader Joes bagged pasta dinners, and making my $20 monthly donation to Planet Fitness. Really? How did it get to this so quickly?
Let me start out by saying that I’m not trying to make a statement about how working is terrible for your physical and mental health. Having been on both sides of the employment spectrum in recent years, I can safely say that I feel much better about most things in my life when I have a job. The bottom line is that working is great and I’m glad to be doing it again, but now the challenge is trying to regain that balance that I achieved when I had all the time in the world, not just the time between dinner and bed. In my unemployed days, I had the time to take time, now I need to focus on taking the time to make time.
So how do I do that? Lent it out. Forcing yourself to relax might sound like an oxymoron, but hey, if it works then who cares. October is all about trying to find that balance again and my first steps are to: journal religiously, get back into practicing yoga, and to finally give meditation a try. No, I’m too tired’s, no I’m just going to watch Teen Mom on demand all night’s, no excuses. With a busy schedule it’s not going to happen unless I make it happen.
The little tag on my Yogi tea this morning put it perfectly: "The best way of life is to be. Simply to be." And that’s just what I’m trying to achieve.
More to come…
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Dear Danne,
ReplyDeleteI absolutely cannot relate more to this post - it's just not possible! I've realized that most of us creative types have this cross to bear. We work to fund our creative projects and adventures, but oftentimes the work part of our day becomes so demanding that we're stuck feeling out of time! I've realized that I've given in to my physical/mental/emotion exhaustion and defeated myself with too much negative thinking. I've spread myself far too thin I've allowed myself to become burned out. The reality is that between working two jobs and squeezing the rest of my life into any moments left over I've forgotten to take spend quality time with myself. Or friends! Or art!
I'm so ready to join you in this month's challenge and really get back into the game! I love that one of your goals is getting back into yoga! I've been trying to get into a new class myself! My goals this month will be to get back into a regular yoga routine, begin a new project (and see it through to the finish), and say "yes" as often as possible when faced with a chance to get out and spend time with friends, and most importantly, to keep my thinking as positive as possible.
Here's to saying "yes" more, and "no" less!
danne!! i love this post!! i definitely want to join you on this month's challenge...keeping a pretty crazybusy schedule myself this year, i am really trying my hardest to stay relaxed, healthy and social with the little cracks of free time in my jam-packed week. i'm doing pretty good in some ways, but definitely falling victim to the "i'm just going to watch teen-mom" thing, and i'm also faithfully donating to bally's right now. resigning to just watching t.v. isn't self care when i'm not doing yoga and the other things that effectively keep me centered. way to be the best, girl...this just gave me so much more motivation :)
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you girls are down for this! Would either of you be interested in guest blogging? I always love when people want to participate and would love to have you guys blog with me. Let me know and I can add you in!
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, let's motivate each other to get awesome stuff done this month. Amanda, I'm going to make you say yes to 'hanging' out with me. Maybe we can make a weekend yoga session happen.
You guys are the best, keep me posted on progress <3
yay danne! i love this post too... life really is all about balance and i like this, "yes" more than "no" business... i'm a little bit on the opposite side of the spectrum since being back near the sea.. i feel like i have loads of alone time - i farm alone and living far away from most of my good friends is hard but gives me a lot of time to read, write, play music, make food, do yoga and bake... at least the weather will keep you indoors and maybe inspire you to relax, take in the simple things and 'just be' - something we should all tune into everyday - get pumped and good luck stashy <3
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