You might be asking yourself do I really need to take a break and why will it help. Let’s face it, if you didn’t take a break you would be able to dore more each day. But would you really be doing more by not taking a break?
Think of how fast each day goes by, from the moment you wake until you fall in to bed at silly o’clock totally exhausted. Was you day productive? Did you achieve everything you wanted to do to an appropriate standard?
If you find yourself stressed out from work, home and lifes challenges you are not alone. Feeling over stressed is very common. It’s been born from the media constantly telling us we should be this, we should be that and we should compare ourselves to the overly staged pictures that fill social media. Although so many people feel like this and social media repeats this over and over with staged snapshot after staged snapshot, it is not a good enough reason to dismiss feelings of overwhelm and stress as something not to be concerned about.
If you are feeling overwhelmed, stressed and just plain exhausted things in your life need to change things in your life and start looking after your emotional and physical wellbeing by practising self love. You can’t successfully function like this before your physical, mental and emotional health begins to suffer.
Related – 28 Days Of Motivation and Self Love
This is where YOU need to take charge of your life and take a step back from this madness that is called ‘modern life’.
Do any of these sound familiar? If they do ir’s time to step back:
Your Social Circle Consists Of Just Your Cat
As a cat owner I can’t see too much wrong with this but we all need human contact. I know when I’m sterssed I just want to shut the world out but I also know this isn’t a long term solution. Yes, we all need to have me time but humans are socialbe creations and we need people around us to give us a sense of self-worth.
Although you do need others in your life what you don’t need are the negative emotional controlling ones. I know from experience how much suddenly lifts off our shoulders when we remove negative people. Take a good hard look at your social media accounts. Just becvause you knew somebody in school doesn’t mean you have to stay in touch with them now. Social media wasn’t around when I left school and I firmly believe there was a very good reason I didn’t stay in touch with some people. If this sounds like you, please question why now social media has come along you are now playing best friends when you never were in the first place. Wehn it comes to friends I certainly believe in quality over quanity and life is much less stressful when you remove the negative.
You Have Too Much On Your Plate
This is a rather obvious answer, but how much is too much? If you find that saying yes to requests from co-workers, family or even friends has your schedule maxed out, you are merely contributing too much. One way to give yourself a break starting now is by saying no to others and saying yes to you!
You are Experiencing Physical And Mental Effects of Stress
Everyone experiences some form of every-day stress, it’s actually healthy and is what drives us but excessive stress wreaks havoc on your physical, emotional and mental wellbeing.
Some of the physical signs of extreme stress are:
- You suffer with a number of colds and seasonal illnesses which are hard to shake off
- You struggle to get out of bed in a morning
- Headaches that just don’t go
- You find yourself over eating or not eating at all
- You are not in control of your emotions and can quite easily get frustrated, angry or upset.
- Lack of concentration
- You lack interest in everyday activites
- You want to shut the world out
- Your feel little emotion about things in your life.
- You start to drink more than you used to
- You have thoughts of harming yourself
If you resonate with any of these sign, please make an appointment to see your Doctor. There is help for you and it is often easier to ask sooner than to let things deteriorate.
You Are Always Last on Your List
Do you have a to do list?
What does it look like?
Do YOU feature on it? If not, why not?
With the never ending list of all the things society says we should be and do it becomes routine to put others first. But by doing that at some point you will burn out. It’s true, you can have it all but you can’t have it all at once. There are only 24 hours in a day and there just isn’t time to do everything that society tells us we should do. Too often social media is posed. It’s not real. Those little squares on Instagram are the little snapshots people want you to see. I know for a fact there is usually utter chaos just out of shot.
Taking care of yourself first gives you an added sense of well-being, allows you to prioritise your life better, and keeps your focus on the task in front of you because your mind isn’t reverting to your other unmet needs.
Related – 5 Day Self Care Challenge
You’re Missing Out on Sleep
Even though this seems to be the practice of everyone living this amazing 24/7 lifestyle truth be told it is doing so much damage to us both physically, emotionally and mentally. How much slepp do you actuall get each night? Research has shown that adults who don’t get a solid 8 houirs of sleep every night are far morelikely to have symptoms of stress. Lack of sleep can also make us fee; lazy, irritable and we have trouble concentrating. As a result we are more stressed and the cycle of stress and little sleep continues night after night, week after week until we find it hard to function.
I am very aware that I don’t get enough sleep. I have a number of chronic illnesses and sadlt this all impact on my ability to sleep and also the quality of sleep I get. I use an app to monitor my sleep and the results are shocking and it is so obvious while I feel the way I do.
Getting more sleep is the best way to heal your body rest and recuperate and this will help to improve your overall sense of well-being. These are a few things that help me feel more rested the following day:
- Stop using all the gadgets! By this I mean TV, laptops, tablets and mobiles. The light these gadets give off is bright and this will stimulate your brain instead of relaxing it.
- Give yourself some quiet time in bed such as a relaxing bath and reading a book. Maybe light one of your favoutite candles, but NEVER fall asleep with it still lit.
- Go to bed on an empty stomach. Eat your last meal or snack at least one hour before bed.
- Avoid caffine for a few hours as this is a stimulate. Instead opt for a hot milky drink.
- I like to pop a few drops of lavender oil on my pillow.
- Ensure your bedroom is at suitable temperature. You won’t sleep if you are too cold but at the same time you won’t sleep if the room is too hot.
I’ve fund that by following these tips my quality iof sleep is improved and I feel more alert the next day.
You Are an Emotional Wreck
If you are overworked, overstressed, and you aren’t taking time out for for self care activities your emotional balance will suffer considerably. If you think about how you feel each day and your emtions and stress levels are running high it’s time to take a step back and practice some self love.
Getting your emotional balance back can be as simple as getting that massage or a facial that you’ve been putting off. May be just sitting down in yuour favourite chair and taking time to drink your favourite hot cuppa with no distractions. Too often we get caught up in helping others and end up negecting ourselves.
The Line Between your Career and Home Life is Blurred
If you are trouble seeing where your workday ends and your home life begins, it could be that your work is your life. If you’re truly satisfied with your work, you most likely don’t find yourself in many stressful situations. However, if you have other areas in life that yor are neglecting because of work, that’s when you it may be time to staep back from your work load and concentrate on other aspects of your life that you have been negecting.
In iorder for boundries to be made it is impoertant that the change starts with you. Ask your employer for more flexibility with your work. Would working from home be possible? If you can save your commute to work a couple of days a month this will free up time for you to concentrate on your home life. I personally found removing a 1 1/2 hour stressful commute during rush hour twice a day made a huge difference. I gained 3 hours a day and I also removed the neeed to play sardines on a train during a stressful rush hour commute twice a day.
Making changes to areas of your life can only begin when you notice the signs. To begin with it is so easy just to keep moving along with everything thathappens in life and then suddenly we find ourselves stressed, over tired and emotional. Too often we sit and wonder how on earth things got to this point.
But once you realise things need to change it just take some small baby steps to bring some form of normality and calm back in to your life. When you do take a mental break, the key is to give the time you have entirely to yourself. It’s not selfish to put your needs first. In fact it’s essential. The phrase ‘you can’t pour from an empty cup’ is so true. If we aren’t rested and stress free we will never be able to help and support others around us. Your standard of work will slide as you don’t have the physical or mental energy to complete tasks to your full ability.
Related – 7 Ways To Help Ease Stress
Physical and mental stress can quite easily stop us in our path. It is so important for us to find straegies that help us reduce stress. The key is to take a step back before it gets to this point. It is essential that you put yourself in an environment that allows you to be at peace without any possible distractions and find the time to recharge our body and soul.
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