Have you assumed that another woman has it all together? Then, find out that behind closed doors their crying themselves to sleep because they are so stressed, overwhelmed, and exhausted. Or, you find out that their lives are mess behind closed doors and realise you have been comparing yourself to the outer persona they have wanted everyone to see? Or, are you that women that appears to have their life perfectly packaged together but constantly question how you are going to power through another day?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you are not alone. Women have a natural strength of being able to juggle multiple priorities and look flawless doing it. They have their jobs, their kids, their parents, their partner, soccer practices, date nights, social events with friends, project lead at work, the title of meal prep queen, and that’s just to name a few! How do you feel after reading that, exhausted right?
Women are running on empty. It’s compromising their mental health and over well-being, ultimately, impacting their ability to really thrive. Our society encourages powering through and celebrate resilience – but, at what cost? There is no gold metal awaiting the women that prioritise everything so perfectly until the point that she becomes overridden in anxiety, worry, chronic fatigue, and even severe disease like autoimmune and cancer as examples. When women aren’t thriving, neither is their family or their business.
All is not lost. There is a way to have it all without compromising mental health. It begins with assessing where the woman, herself, is on the list of priorities. If it’s like most women, she is somewhere at the bottom of the priority list or not on there at all. Having an awareness to this is the first step to having it all without sacrificing anything.
In addition to that, Becca Powers is sharing with you 5 steps to having it all without compromising your mental health.
- Give yourself permission to be on the priority list, preferably at the top – women tend to prioritise everything and everyone above themselves. While noble at times it’s certainly not sustainable – and it leads to burnout. Tip: Grab a pen and paper and list all your top priorities, then when you are done write yourself somewhere into the top 3 and give yourself permission to be there and get your own attention. It’s life changing move!
- Admit that things aren’t going perfectly to yourself and someone else – there is an energetic shift that happens when we pause enough to admit that things aren’t going the way you planned or hoped. Saying it out loud to another friend breaks the pattern of powering through enough to allow in new possibility. Tip: Identify one of area of your life that you are over-extending yourself and admit it to someone else – it’s wildly refreshing!
- Let rest and rejuvenation to be words of nourishment rather than words of irresponsibility – Resting for many ends of feeling irresponsible or lazy. However, rest is nourishment restores our precious energy so we can do more and have more without compromising. Even a mindful 15-minute rest can be a game changer! Tip: Try to rest for 15-minutes a day while reinforcing that this rest is nourishing you – see if you feel like you can do more with less compromise.
- Allow gift of choice to become a daily practice – Our choices either serve us or the sabotage us. The severity is sliding scale, but the options are just the same: serve or sabotage. When you pause enough to be conscious of your choices this is one surefire way of being able to have it all by making more choice that serve us. Tip: You can try putting your left hand over your heart and ask yourself,“does this serve me or does this sabotage me”
- Embrace the power of and – One of the reasons women compromise so much is because we wear so many different metaphorical hats. We are often many different roles to many different people causing us to compartmentalise. This very act leads to extreme fatigue. Embrace the power of and honor your wholeness. You are a good mom and a careered bad ass. You can earn six figures and still have hobbies.
