Hello, dear one-
I’m not sure what your journey with rest and self care has been, but I know for a long time I didn’t place enough value on offering myself spaciousness. I used to push myself to the point of breaking. I wore myself out mentally, physically and emotionally. I felt as though I needed to be tougher and to keep going. No matter what the cost.
Taking a break meant that I wasn’t living up to the expectations placed upon me. Mostly the expectations I placed upon myself. This created a vicious cycle of wanting to escape from the life I had created. I would suffer from feeling burnt out and overwhelmed. I felt as though if I’d take a break that I’d loose part of my identity.
𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆.
Yet somehow, I feel that many of us experience this tension. This lie that pushing through and pressing on somehow makes us stronger. When all it ever seems to do is make us sick, wear us down, and build resentment and bitterness inside of us. The message that we’re meant to be super heroes can be so damaging.
Whether running a business, taking care of family, pushing to excel in school, your job or various other responsibilities —the answer tends to be… 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰’𝒎 “𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈” 𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒓𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕.
For many years now I’ve been practicing pausing, reframing and reprogramming this type of thinking. Saying 𝒀𝑬𝑺 to taking care of my physical, mental and emotional health. Saying no to doing “everything.” Making rest a part of my routine. 𝑩𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒅𝒐 𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒆.
It’s so hard to walk away from our work. It often feels impossible to say, “No” to people we care about because we don’t want to let them down. We feel as though we will lose our standing if we take a break. But I’m learning the truth is that we will lose our whole selves if we don’t pay attention to our own wellbeing. That is why, starting today, the rest of this month I’m going offline.
Something inside me has been telling me a I need a break from social media. So to align with what I encourage you to do in your life—to rest, to prioritize self care routines—and to be true to myself, I’ve been planning to go quiet. My kiddos are growing so quickly and are only off for summer break for a few more weeks. 𝑰‘𝒎 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒑𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒎𝒚 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒂 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒙, 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒚𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔.
I’ll be back in sometime in September, but in the meantime, I’ll leave you with this question:
𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒑 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏?
Grace and Peace,
~Lea, xo 💕
*I'll be answering email at info@authenticsoulcare.com if you're interested in connecting! I'd love to hear what you might choose to step away from. 🤗