What has been your most stressful whacked out day you have ever had? Was there a time as you reflected back you just were thinking you might actually fold from the immense pressure you were under? Did you take it with you when you left? Bring it home to loved ones? Calming these racing thoughts and bringing ourselves to a place where we learn from them and learn to let go is hard. We can’t continue to be happy if all we do is carry our worst with us from one moment, into the next.
One of the hardest things I have had to learn in my life at 45 today is that there is a completely huge difference between doing and a state of being. Doing is about knocking out the digital or analog list of things you need to do. My calendar. My meeting timelines. Getting groceries. Cutting the grass. Conference calls at work. Everyday responsibilities that just need to be done. Most of the time I try to make them consistent spaces of time every week, so I can really work into the gaps everything else I would love doing, not have to do.
I can sustain in this “doing” mode for a while. We all can. But, I was reminded today from one of my mentors, Miranda, that you have to have some down time away from the “doing.” It’s not feasible to sustain the “doing” for extended periods of time. Things will break. Might be you. Might be someone you love as you lose composure from the breakdown. This is where we enter many times enter a place of burning out or feeling just worked to death.
Just as important as the “doing” work, we need a space for just “being” in our lives. A place where we can truly say we are present with ourselves and others around us. Where we have nothing keeping us from really focusing on our state of mind. It allows us to actually switch off and allows our us to just unwind. Constant states of “doing” keep us wound up like a spring. That spring gets to taught, it breaks. Then what good are you to yourself or others? You’re actually not if your being honest as you read this.
This mode of “being” is just as important as the “doing” work we need to do. Literally, checking in with yourself in a third person state, asking yourself what you feel like, and then doing something with what you learn in that moment. Observe your thoughts, observe your inner monologues with yourself. Don’t judge or feel like you need to do anything with what comes up, just be with it. Be okay with it. In that truth is where you find your true state of optimism or where you will find how jaded you’ve become. What’s super cool, you can then choose differently. You can literally be something different, something incredible.
I always share with people in my technology field I play and work in they need to once in a while turn off their technology and give it a “being” break. It too, run all the time, 24/7 will break and not perform as well as it would if you gave it regular break once in a while. Turn yourself off for a while from the “doing” to refresh.
Love to hear about what you discover in the comments section below. I’m curious. Don’t be embraced or afraid. There is no judgement here. Just getting better.
Thanks for reading and viewing. Thanks Miranda for making me take a moment 🙌🏻
✌🏻 Shawn
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