I remember the date when life sped up – May 2014! I can’t put my finger on why but I do remember thinking I just had to get through tax season and I would take a break in May when things slowed down. Things didn’t slow down – so I kept pushing – telling myself I would take a break at Christmas. Our clients always go quiet at Christmas. They didn’t – things did not slow down. Suddenly self-care and stress management was something I had to embrace with intention. I am still running and still trying to learn.
We were so lucky to host Dr. Alexina Mehta on February 7th to teach us some tools for self-care and stress management. I thought I would share three of my take-aways.
Slow Down & Be Present
I know it sounds easier said than done. If you’ve got a busy brain like I do then someone suggesting you meditate sounds like someone asking you to fly to the moon. Dr. Mehta suggested guided meditation or taking a class to help you get started. Since our workshop I’ve pulled out my wisdom cards and I find the combination of guided meditation followed by pulling a few wisdom cards has been really helpful. The cards I pull often give me something to think about for the day that isn’t business, kids, bills, house etc.. It helps that I almost always pull the card suggesting I need to slow down and return to silence.
Treat Your Body As Good As You Treat Your Business
Give yourself permission to take as much care of yourself as you do your business. For most of us business owners if we gave our mental, physical and spiritual health as much care as we do our business we would likely be bionic people. This really spoke to me. Self-care is always the first thing to fall off of my list. I love being at the gym, riding my bike and find starting my day with meditation makes my whole day better: guest what falls off my to-do list first?
Let Go!
This one sounds easy, is SUPER hard but totally worth working on. So often we take on the emotional baggage and stress of other people’s decisions. One of the participants at Dr. Mehta’s workshop said he had a hard time when people did things he perceived as rude or totally wrong. Allowing ourselves to fixate on what’s not gone well we are preventing ourselves from being the good we want to be and seeing the good we want to see. Dr. Mehta suggested that when we find our minds going into this loop – look up. Just the act of looking up can pull us out of that negative mind loop. Try it – it actually works
So those are my three major take-aways from Dr. Mehta’s workshop. I would love to hear what you do to manage stress and ensure you don’t loose site of self care.
You can visit Dr. Mehta’s website to learn more about her, her events or schedule some time talk de-stressing!