Yesterday, I think I hit a wall and I had to take a time out. I really, really – I just crashed and I just found myself on the couch all day eating ice cream and just disengaging. And I think I needed it. I was tired. I’m still tired and I think the anxiety for the coming school year in the next couple of weeks just kind of hit me and took me out.
And frankly, I at first felt a little bad about it – let’s get up, let’s get going, you’ve got things to do – and then I said, No, no, no, no. You could take a time out. We all need to take one. We all hit walls and I think a lot of times in our culture we’re taught to just keep going, to push our way through, to grit our teeth and no matter what you just keep going. Go, go, go, go, go.
We’re in this hustle culture and it’s okay to take a time out, right? Especially right now when we’re at a point where our mental health and our overall well-being is just in a frazzled state because there are so many unknowns that we’re having to deal with that affect our mental health and our emotional health and our physical health and it is okay to need that time out from time to time.
I would even go so far as to say schedule that time out on a regular basis even if it’s a 5-minute break in the midst of your day, throughout your day, or every Sunday. That’s time just for you. You step away from your work. You power down. You spend time cuddling or reading and you just don’t engage in the things that are causing you anxiety or stress. It’s okay.
We give our kids time outs or you call it a time in when they need to step away from stuff. A couple of weeks ago, Jackson told me he was too tired to go to gymnastics and so I let him take that day off because I want to teach my kids when to know to take that time out. It’s okay. Seriously, it’s ok to take a break sometimes. We have just so much on our plates and sometimes we need a moment to breathe and gather the energy and clear our minds enough to then be able to power through and move through it.
But sometimes you need that break to gear up for it, to let go of some things. I really think just the anxiety of the school year to come and kind of thinking through, “How am I going to do all of this? How am I going to manage staying on top of my work and helping the kids do all the things that they need to do and managing schedules…”
I needed a time out and so I took it and I decided I wasn’t going to feel bad about it. So if you need a time out, take it and don’t feel guilty for it because what’s going to happen eventually if you don’t listen to your body and you don’t take that time out when you are feeling overwhelmed or stressed out or super anxious about something, eventually your body is going to force you to take that time out. It’s going to shut down on its own and we just really can’t afford that right now because our families are so dependent on us right now. You are teaching, you are working, you are cleaning, you are running your house. There’s just a lot going on.
So, if you need a time out, don’t power through, don’t keep going, don’t tell yourself you don’t have time for that. You need to take the time for that. So this week, figure out where can you take the time out? Where can you take a moment to relieve yourself of all the responsibilities, all the stress, all the anxiety, and do nothing? Whatever that means for you.
Zone out to TV. That’s what I did. I watched a bunch of mindless TV that I usually do not watch. Hey, play Candy Crush. Go sit out by your pool and stare into the water. Sleep. Sleep all day. Go take a hot bath, take a nap, and just lay in your bed all day long. Read. Whatever it is. Allow yourself to take that time for yourself. You need it. It is deserved and you will be able to function that much more better.
I don’t know if that’s incorrect English, but you will be steps ahead once you take that step back. Alright, mamas. Take that time out this week. Love you mamas! I will. I would usually say, “You got this”, but sometimes we don’t always got this so take that time out, step back, breathe and then go back to you got this.
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