I spent a long time of my life being BUSY to keep me distracted.
I thrived off of having these long to-do lists. And I would derive great pleasure checking items off.
I can recall an evening as a third grader, I was in my bedroom with all my school books stacked up high visually signaling all of the school work I had to do.
It was a cold and rainy night and my mom had made beef stew for dinner. I opted to take my dinner to my room to tackle all of those school books not because she said I had to do that, but, because I wanted to do that.
So you could say my BUSY and my DISTRACTION started very young. And I have no idea why this memory is engrained in my head. But, it is. And I remember a sense of calm, a great deal of pride and in that arena, I felt safe.
Lots of therapy later, I’ve realized that BUSY was my safe space. And it served me well for a really long time only because I didn’t know there was a BETTER way, a healthier (mentally) way.
And it has come full circle as I now coach women who are dealing with the same.
“Busy” is such a great excuse because it sounds both productive and positive., right?
We tend to say we are “too busy” to go to the gym but miraculously we find time to do a great number of other activities such as…
-binge-watch a few seasons on Netflix
-go out for drinks at the local happy hour
-attend a birthday party
-endlessly scroll through social media feeds
Don’t put yourself low on your priority list.
According to a Real Simple/GfK Roper happiness study, 65 percent of women who say they’re “very happy” make time for themselves. (Only 39 percent of women who are “somewhat happy” do so.)
So the odds are good that the more time you make for yourself, the happier you’ll be.
