𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒑 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏?

Last week it was lovely to witness Simone Biles publicly modeling to all of us prioritizing her mental health over Olympic glory. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕.

Simone chose to listen to what her mental, emotional, and physical well-being was telling her. She chose to let go of expectations and the role others had determined she would fill. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒗𝒖𝒍𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆.

I am not sure what your journey with rest and self care has been, but I know for a long time I didn’t value either of those things. I tended to push myself to the point of breaking. I wore myself out mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually. I felt as though I needed to be stronger, to pull myself up by my bootstraps and 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 was often 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 we’re meant to be super heroes can be so damaging.

When I learned of Simone’s decision, I thought of all the conversations I’ve had with friends over the years in which one of us was encouraging the other to take a break and the other’s reply was, “I can’t.” Whether running a business, taking care of family, pushing to excel in school, or various other responsibilities —the answer was always the same. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰’𝒎 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇.

For many years now I’ve been trying to pause, re-frame and reprogram this type of thinking. To say yes to taking care of my physical, mental and emotional health. To say no to doing “everything.” To make rest a part of my routine. 𝒀𝒆𝒕 𝑰’𝒎 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒅𝒐 𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒅𝒆𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 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 we will lose our whole selves if we don’t pay attention to our own well-being. That is why, dear one, starting today, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒉 𝑰’𝒎 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆.

For the past few months now, 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 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒑 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒎𝒚 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒂 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒙 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔.

I’ll be back 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