Respecting My Own Balance is an Ongoing Journey

Hey friends! I’m so pleased you all voted for this theme this month, because I really needed it.

Balance is something I’m still not great at. It’s an ongoing journey and like everything practice makes perfect right?!

When many of you meet me in real life I can imagine you’d refer to me as an extrovert…. in my mind that’s not technically true. I’m what you would call an extroverted introvert. I love spending time with people and my energy peaks in those environments especially if I feel the energy in the room is positive, but I am still most definitely, an introvert by the technical definition of the word – in that I recoup my energy by resting and having time alone.

I need that time, either a couple of hours or even sometimes a whole day where I can sit in comfortable silence and either watch TV, read my book or nap.

My body craves these moments, but my mind STILL finds it hard to carve them out for myself.

The world (not nature, but modern society) makes us feel like we have to move at 100 mph every day to be successful at life. Whatever that means?! And that if we take rest we are lazy, not being productive, a failure, not being social enough, not growing as a person etc etc etc. I’m sure your brain has used some or all these phrases before. Mine certainly has….and still does.

The journey I’ve been on though is learning that rest doesn’t actually have to mean laying on my bum for the day. Don’t get me wrong, this is something I love to do at times but often it can leave me feeling a bit rubbish about myself.

Rest can be anything that is nourishing to me. Something that I find relaxing, and my nervous system likes. My lovely friend Caroline wrote a wonderful blog a couple of weeks ago about rest- I’d highly advise checking it out here: https://www.carolinedearlove.co.uk/post/what-does-rest-really-mean

She helped me to understand all the different ways we can rest and now I’m on a mission to figure out what my forms of rest are.

I’d love to sit here and write a blog about how I’ve nailed finding balance in my life, but I haven’t. Instead, I’m still in discovery and small step mode.

Figuring out what nourishes me, what my body, mind and spirit need and then taking those small steps to add them into my weekly life.

One thing I’ve started doing over the last two months is spending the hour after waking up without screens. Opening a window to get some fresh air and then taking a couple of gentle stretches and some breathwork. Starting the day off without looking at screens has helped me feel a lot more grounded for my day, so I’d highly recommend if it’s something you want to try.

The other thing I know I need is to take a day off after I’ve run a workshop or retreat day. Giving myself that time energetically to recoup. It doesn’t always feel possible with the demands on my calendar but it’s something I’m going to try and hold firm to. Although, I haven’t quite put this into practice yet looking at my diary going forward!!

So, there it is, my honest account on how finding balance for me is still very much an on-going journey and how I haven’t quite got to grips with it yet. Haha!

Let me know how you feel about balance and anything you do to help you maintain yours?

Love, Tash xx