Imagine yourself frantically running on a hamster wheel and, as you’re reading this, stepping off of it. What a sigh of relief that would be for most people, but a lot of us don’t actually want to step off the hamster wheel because we’re afraid we will be confronted with our own selves. At least when we are running hard, we don’t have to see them. Whereas if we slow down, we may see them and then we’d have to deal with them. So, we just keep up the frantic pace.
I know it’s hard, so give yourself some grace here. Just let yourself step off the hamster wheel to go for a walk, read a book, take a nap, or whatever else will allow you to take a breath and regroup. If you’re not ready to really see yourself completely right away, that’s okay. There’s a process that happens when we step back a bit to look at our time and make a little more space for ourselves. Eventually, we enter into a different and better version of ourselves. We become less stressed, less cranky, less tired, less short-fused, more rational, better thinkers, and creators, which makes us more available to others too. This doesn’t happen overnight; it happens slowly. As we gift ourselves just a little bit of time back each day, we begin to really see ourselves and identify where we are, how we are doing, and what emotions are popping up.
My encouragement to you would be to let it all come to you naturally. Stepping off the hamster wheel is an act of surrender that has its rewards. It brings a newfound freedom and courage to realize we can, and will, take back some of our time. It’s a solid start to feeling more clear-minded and decisive with how we spend our time and what needs to change. Eventually, we will find ourselves in a better space to see what’s causing some of the pursuit of distraction or the difficult things in our lives.
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