October 2020 Quote: Breathe

“It’s okay if the only thing you did today is breathe.”

To all those who need to take a breathe, We live in a society that is always on the go go go. We live in a society that praises hustle culture and to always be productive. We live in a society where we see other people’s lack of sleep as a means of hard work and success. We place value on ourselves a lot of times based on what we do or accomplish each day.

And it’s not always healthy to have a mindset that we need to do X amount of things to be successful or to do X amount of things to feel as productive as others. I’ll be honest, I need to work on taking breaks too. I need to learn how to just breathe and be. Because I do overwork myself and I know it. I am the type of person who will see everyone else on social media or around me, working away, thriving, striving, and doing all these things. To me, it makes me feel like I have to be doing something do. Like I have to be hustling to work just as hard or harder because if I’m not, I’m not doing good enough. I don’t have the most thriving Instagram and I have had my account for YEARS. It truly is discoursing to see other accounts grow so much when I see them post a lot or do all these things and I’m here wondering why I’m not growing, so it makes me feel like i’m not doing good enough to grow my platform. So if someone posts on Instagram, I feel compelled to post on Instagram too so I can grow like them. Or if someone finished his/her paper, then it makes me feel like I should be done with mine. And it’s good motivation in some ways, but unhealthy when I compare my productivity to others. It’s unhealthy when we compare our productivity to others.

Because we all have those days.

You know? The days where we just want to sit on the couch and be the potato we all want to be, remote in hand, Netflix popping up on the screen, and eyes glued to it. We have those days where all we want to do is sit by the window and read our hearts out. We all have those days where we look at our pile of work, but decide to go on our phones instead or to go out (when we could go out) to avoid doing the work we knew we had to do.

You know, days where we just wanted to do absolutely nothing. Some might say watching TV, reading a book, or going shopping or out isn’t nothing. But it is. When you’re whole life is focused on working or hustling after one thing, our minds and bodies are constantly in motion that when doing something as simple as throwing on a TV show or movie or reading a book or walking around a mall or store, that seems like nothing to our brain because we are things that are not as taxing as constantly being productive.

We are at a form of rest in our own ways.

And it’s hard. For me, whenever I watch a show, I feel guilty. I feel like I have to be doing homework or I could be doing next weeks reading or I could be making my list for Christmas gifts—-I could be doing all these other more productive things rather than just mindlessly watch a show. My mind is so used to go, go, going, that it doesn’t slow down enough for me to be like, I’m going to sit and watch a show. Because at that point, it feels like I’m not focused or I’m not there. I’m somewhere else, moving at the speed of my productivity.

In those moments, I tell myself, stop.

Stop.

Stop overthinking.

Stop thinking ahead.

Focus on the moment.

And breathe.

Breathe Breathe Breathe Breathe. Breathe.

Because why am I rushing? Why am I thinking too much too fast? Why am I so worried about something that I don’t need to be doing right at that moment when I should enjoy the moment?

And most of the time, I find myself saying it’s because I want to be productive—to use my time well.

Time is something we all know is special and important. We don’t want to waste it.

But sometimes we need to slow down. We need to breathe. We need to let go of all the rushing thoughts invading our brain and just sit, breathe, and calm down. Let our minds relax. Let our jaws unclench. Let our heartbeat slow. Let our eyes laze down. Let our fists unclench. And breathe.

When I breathe, my body calms. My mind calms. I feel at peace.

So in those moments when I find myself overthinking and trying to be productive when I know I should relax, I breathe and that helps me. I focus on the show and enjoy it more. I pick up the book and just let my mind wander to worlds near or far. I walk around outside to get fresh air and not let all the work get to me.

I need time to do something calming and to do something for me.

We all need time to do something calming and to do something for you.

Don’t feel guilty.

Don’t feel guilty for not using up every second of the day to be productive.

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t finish all the items on your list that you wanted to do.

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t get all your homework done right away.

Don’t feel guilty if you aren’t posting on your social media as much.

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t go out with your friends because you want to be at home and chill.

Don’t feel guilty to throw on that movie and watch your heart out.

Don’t feel guilty for sleeping in longer.

Do not feel guilty if the only thing you did today was get up and breathe.

Because that’s the BEST thing you can do each day.

To be and to breathe.

Life is full of so much pressures, worries, and stresses that society places on us, and ultimately we place on ourselves because we want to meet the demands and the expectations of society. We need to start normalizing that it’s okay to not be productive all the time. We need to normalize that it’s okay to take those days where we do absolutely nothing in our own way. I see sooooo many people tired, overworked, angry, and sad because all they do is work and they hate their job and they don’t have time for them. Or they have all these responsibilities they have to do or feel like they have to do. And it breaks my heart because as people we can’t keep going, going going, if we don’t rest. If we don’t take those days.

I mean, if a car kept going, going, going—-no stops, no fill ups, nothing—–I guarantee you it will break. It will be on empty and it will be stranded on the side of the road, haggard-looking and run down.

It should never get to the point where we are empty as people, haggard, on our knees with the bags under our eyes weighing us down, ultimately on our breaking point. It’s not healthy. It’s why burnout exists. To see such creative, hard-working, dedicated people burn out is one of the saddest things. That person cries, probably in the only time they allowed themselves to cry because they don’t have time to break down. That person feels like they don’t have inspiration or that they are tired beyond words.

It’s sad.

We need a break.

We need to just breathe.

Because in our breaks, our minds clear too. Our creativity comes back stronger when we are away from something that we constantly think about. I bet we’ve all been there: when we’re working on a project or something and we reread it over and over again, wondering what’s missing or what you can do to make it better, but the idea never comes to you. Take a break. Breathe and walk away. When you come back, I guarantee you, what you were hoping to find earlier when you were staring your project down, demanding that it tell you in the moment what to do, will be there. It will. When we take time for ourselves too, we are also at a more happy state. I know whenever I do homework for HOURS on end, I get very irritable 😅 after a certain point. My mind dislikes it! And I can’t be productive at that point because no works going to get done if all I’m doing is glaring daggers at my homework 😂. You’re not going to work well if you’re angry at what you’re doing.

Take time for you.

Whether that’s five minutes, ten minutes, an hour, a day, two days, whatever amount of time you need to rest . . . do it 💕.

You deserve it and you need it. Listen to your body and your mind and don’t let it come to the point where you’re breaking down on the side of the road, overworked and all the gears are broken and rusted over. And please, please, please, please, tell that niggling voice in the back of your head that’s trying to make you feel guilty, tell that voice to breathe too. It needs it also.

So if all you did today was get up, get ready, eat, did some homwork

or if you got up, turned on the tv, put away the dishes

or got up, went for a walk, read a little, then ate

whatever you did today or plan to do

take the time to breathe.

And if you do only that, then that’s okay.

Perfectly okay.

Be proud of that great accomplishment.

As always, with love,