Sometimes I wish I could be the happy enthusiastic and creative version of myself all the time, but this is real life; not a fairy tale. I am in the process of graduating and have been quite the ball of stress for the last week or so. I have suffered from a lack of sleep, social life and fresh air, and those circumstances didn’t make me feel my best (huge understatement). After checking off a couple of my deadlines yesterday though, I managed to have a good night sleep, get some physical exercise by running in the rain and am have been drinking hot cocoa and eating chocolate chip cookies in bed while catching up on some blog reading.
Whether you are stressing out, feel overloaded by all the things you need to finish, or are simply having a bad day: I feel you. But I also have some advise.
Take a deep breath. Sleep a bit. Get some fresh air. Have a nice cup of coffee or tea. Realize you can’t do everything and you are not a bad person for that. Be nice to yourself.
I am not saying you should drop everything you are working on and lie in bed all day. What I am saying, is that you should cut yourself some slack. And when you do have a moment in between scenes, be kind to yourself and don’t be afraid to give yourself what you need. Even if that’s a fair share of nothing. Sometimes doing absolutely nothing can revive your spirit.
In a way I feel like I am not the best person to give you advice on this topic. I am not the best example for prioritizing my health over work that needs finishing. But I do feel like very slowly, I am learning to be a tiny bit better at this. And if you are anything like me in this matter, putting your personal needs before the ‘things that need to be done’ can be really really tough. Perhaps I do cross a healthy balance sometimes. There is a positive core to that as well though. I am motivated and passionate about my work, and want to deliver quality and put in a lot of effort and hard work to achieve my goals. In itself, that is not necessarily a bad thing. As long as I have my moments of nothingness and happy creative fumbling in between.
This is a reminder for just that. You need to create your own daily portion of magic, peace and happiness, because nobody is going to do it for you. If you don’t need that reminder, you are a lucky person and I wish I could be more like you. If you do need it, you are not alone. Let’s try to get better at this together, day by day :)
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4 Comments
Beckie
December 21, 2012 at 00:00
Great advice Marielle! I am actually the opposite of this, in that I find it hard to push myself to work, and make sure I have plenty of “me time”. You brought up a good point in saying that you like working so hard because you are passionate about what you’re doing. I think this is what has been lacking for me so far in my work. If you remember, I said I plan to try and open a gift boutique in 2013. I am seriously hoping that this will be my passion and I will be so excited to make it happen that I work ceaselessly. That’s a good thing! because I hardly ever have before. If it does come to that, I will try and remember this post and give myself some creative and fun time too : ]
Magical Day Dream
December 28, 2012 at 13:26
Yes I guess passion or the lack of it makes all the difference in the world, for me too. I guess the more my life is filled with things I am passionate about, the more I can struggle with balancing everything as well. But perhaps this will always be the case, not sure ;)
Danielle
December 21, 2012 at 13:21
Great advice! Sometimes a little break really is all we need to feel rejuvenated and ready to take on all the obstacles without feeling burnt out.
Magical Day Dream
December 28, 2012 at 13:27
Yes. so true