Personal Space Invaders – How to create space in our busy lives?

Welcome to the Chaos

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been feeling quite overwhelmed of late.  It seems like my to do list is growing, my anxiety levels rising and my self care regime dwindling.

I even went as far to message a lovely friend and admitted that I was feeling ‘burnt out.’

This week while talking with my coach I realised that I was feeling burnt out because I had lost my routine over the past few months.  Pre hockey injury I would go to the gym Monday through to Friday, alternating between my Personal Training sessions, Crossfit and Pilates. On some of those mornings I would even factor in 20-30 mins to just sit in the sauna and to be still.  I would do this in the morning before school, chill with my gym buddies and have breakfast before heading over to school.

I wasn’t rushed…

I felt energised and rejuvenated.  There’s something about spending time with beautiful people and getting your endorphin fix on.

Now the alarm goes off and I hit snooze.  When it goes off for the third time I wake up in a fluster, shower quickly and put my undies on inside out.  (Yes, I’ve discovered this at the end of the day on WAYYYY too many occasions).

My days have been chaotic.  Good thing is I completely recognised it and I asked for help.

3 Ways to Create Space in Your Life

I’m sure you’ve been there or are currently there.  The emails flood in, the course load gets hard and even your friendships seem demanding.

So what to do? Well if you’re like me you speak with a coach.  Over Skype we worked out that I need to create space in my life again.  I’ve been given the ok by the Orthopaedic specialist to do stationary bike, rowing and swimming under Physio supervision for now.  So I’ll be seeing her this week to organise times to do this.

Another way I’m creating space is I’ve now blocked out a set time to work on “The Butterfly House” each week.  On a Sunday from 10am – 1pm, you’ll find me sitting at my desk getting my creative on.  Setting myself a time frame has also been great for dealing with the perfectionism and procrastination. Because you know what? It just has to get done and I have 3 hrs in which to do it in.

And that’s why change is occurring here at “The Butterfly House.”  My blog posts have been going out every Monday and a recipe post on the Saturday.  The regular posting day will now be Tuesday for love notes/encouraging words/random ramblings and Friday will now be your recipe day.  So many of you have expressed you would like the recipe on the Friday so that you can make it on the weekend.  Thanks for the feedback Tribe! Love it.

I’m also going to create a timetable so that I can have my classes prepped, my coursework studied, my coaching clients organised, spiritual growth nurtured and self care is taken.

What?  Timetable self care time in?  I just… don’t have time…

Make an appointment for yourself to factor in self care.  It doesn’t even need to be a long period of time.  Just a space in your day where you do something loving for yourself.  You’ll be surprised at the knock on effects in other parts of your life. And to be honest I’m craving those knock on effects.  Bring on the calm!

Another way I’m creating space is to sit down with a cuppa to write in my journal words of gratitude. It’s so easy when things are overwhelming to forget the reasons why we love our job, our families, that course we started doing and the interactions with the people around us.  Start writing down what you love about those things/events/people and what was made possible because of their existence.  It just might make your day that little bit more purposeful.

Breathe

I love these particular words by Lori Deschene over at “Tiny Buddha.”

When I felt this type of anxiety, people often told me, “Just breathe.” But that was the problem—it didn’t feel like I could. The missing piece of their advice was how.

When we’re feeling frustrated, or panicked, or stressed, or scared, we tend to breathe rapid, shallow breaths, allowing minimal air to our lungs.

This can actually lead to a number of physical problems, including dizziness, headaches, chronic fatigue, heart palpitations, headaches, high blood pressure, and numbness.

So on top of the difficult emotions we may experience, we then create short-term and long-term physical problems by reducing the amount of oxygen that gets to our brains.

The alternative: Take deep, slow, mindful breaths through the nose. Then hold the breath briefly before exhaling for twice as long as the inhalation.

Not only does this help us release tension and reduce anxiety; it also provides a solid internal focus to help ground us when we may feel overwhelmed by external circumstances.

That’s what it means to just breathe: to just breathe. To concentrate solely on the experience of nourishing our bodies with air and in doing so foster a deep sense of internal safety.

This reminds us that no matter how catastrophic things may seem, we’re alive. We’re okay. We’ll get through it. We are still here, still strong, still breathing.

So lovely ladies. How are you all feeling?  Are you currently overwhelmed? Are you seeking rest and restoration? Are you craving self care time? How do you create space in your busy week? If you’d love to share let me know either here in the comment section or at: thebutterflyhouse@dianabraybrooke.com