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"I'm too busy."
"I just have so much on."
"I'm so tired."
How often do we hear these statements from people around us? How often do we say these things ourselves?
I cringed at myself recently when I wrote this in a message to someone. Yes, it's true, I have a lot going on in my life, and having to manage extra rest and doctor's appointments plus travel with work can make it a little more complicated, but that doesn't mean that I should be "too busy". Really, if it's reached the stage where I am always saying "I'm so busy", that probably means I need to take a step back and re-evaluate.
One thing I've realised as I've gotten older (not that I'm that old - definitely not claiming to have much wisdom here!) is that to a large extent, you control how busy your life is. You can say yes or no to many things, even things that may appear unavoidable.
Unfortunately, sometimes choosing to not be busy means saying no to things that you really would like to do. I think that is definitely the hardest thing for me - since I want to do everything! I like to jump on opportunities when they come my way, so it's hard for me to let them pass me by with the chance that the opportunity may not come up again. But sometimes that is what I need to do to take care of myself.
I particularly have to be mindful of how I need to put limits on myself, otherwise my body will put limits on me and I will have no say whatsoever in the matter. If I put limits on myself, I'm more in control of what I can and can't do, and can usually end up doing a lot of things that I want to do. If I just say yes to everything (like I am prone to doing), I end up in a heap not being able to do anything. I don't think that this is necessarily unique to chronic illness/endometriosis, but I think having a chronic illness makes you more susceptible to collapsing earlier on in the game.
If you're anything like me, after reading this post you're going to be hearing yourself saying "I'm busy" all the time. Let's see what we can do to change that...
I cringed at myself recently when I wrote this in a message to someone. Yes, it's true, I have a lot going on in my life, and having to manage extra rest and doctor's appointments plus travel with work can make it a little more complicated, but that doesn't mean that I should be "too busy". Really, if it's reached the stage where I am always saying "I'm so busy", that probably means I need to take a step back and re-evaluate.
One thing I've realised as I've gotten older (not that I'm that old - definitely not claiming to have much wisdom here!) is that to a large extent, you control how busy your life is. You can say yes or no to many things, even things that may appear unavoidable.
Unfortunately, sometimes choosing to not be busy means saying no to things that you really would like to do. I think that is definitely the hardest thing for me - since I want to do everything! I like to jump on opportunities when they come my way, so it's hard for me to let them pass me by with the chance that the opportunity may not come up again. But sometimes that is what I need to do to take care of myself.
I particularly have to be mindful of how I need to put limits on myself, otherwise my body will put limits on me and I will have no say whatsoever in the matter. If I put limits on myself, I'm more in control of what I can and can't do, and can usually end up doing a lot of things that I want to do. If I just say yes to everything (like I am prone to doing), I end up in a heap not being able to do anything. I don't think that this is necessarily unique to chronic illness/endometriosis, but I think having a chronic illness makes you more susceptible to collapsing earlier on in the game.
If you're anything like me, after reading this post you're going to be hearing yourself saying "I'm busy" all the time. Let's see what we can do to change that...
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This month I will be taking part in National Health Blog Post Month. Check back every day to see the new topic and learn more about endometriosis. Since I'm behind, I've taken a mish mash of previous topics I have wanted to write about and rolled them into one, particularly strengths & weaknesses and how you take time out for yourself.
this is totally what I've been thinking lots about at the moment too. At home church we've been discussing why we always have to be busy and since God gave us a day of rest, why don't we take a day out each week to rest. I am definately trying to be less busy- though it's still a big work in progress.
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This is so very true, and something I struggle with learning myself.
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