I'M DECLUTTERING MY LIFE
Hey friend!
It’s been a hot minute - Unplanned silence🙈. I’ve been making some changes in my life that have kept me on my toes lately. I’m apologizing for not showing up as I would love to. Recently, life is teaching me the importance of having buffers whenever I make plans. As much as we make plans, the future is quite unforeseeable, hence, in all the planning there should be room to tweak things to fit the present reality of things. I’m happy I have been able to adjust.
🤔How far? - I am decluttering my life
Do you sometimes get out of bed feeling out of sorts? You aren’t able to bring yourself to do anything. Yet within you, you know there is so much you have to do and then you start feeling guilty for not following through with your projects. I’ve felt that way for the past two to three weeks. There are too many projects lying in front of me, but I can’t bring myself to act on them.
An acquaintance called me a week ago and told me she has been observing me from a distance and had to talk to me. For more context, we live in the same city and attend the same church. So she knows me to some extent. She told me she has observed that I am too busy and overly engaged in many projects. I hardly have time for anything or myself and this could lead to burnout. She advised that I cut down on my engagements and focus on a few things. In her words “ In life do not hurry. Take one step at a time. You can’t possibly do everything at once lest you break down”. Days after, my pastor’s wife called me and said exactly the same thing.
It was after these conversations that I understood what I was actually going through was burnout - Burnout is a state of complete mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion according to Darling Downs Health. It could be caused by workload, perceived lack of control, working with unfair expectations, and many more. Some of the symptoms are; loss of motivation, a sense of failure and self-doubt, feeling detached or alone in the world, helplessness, and cynicism.
I had gotten to that place where I’d sit at my table, write down a list of to-dos, start working on one thing, feel overwhelmed and demotivated to continue. Then I’ll tell myself “I will set the alarm for 3 am so that I can get out of bed and continue” … lol. That never happens.
Long story short, I’m cutting down on my engagements. I am taking a step back and focusing on the vital few. This is where I will have to apply the 80/20 rule (Pareto principle) in the context used by Brain Tracy in his book “Eat That Frog”. For more background on this concept, it was coined by Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto in 1895. This principle states that 20% of your activities will account for 80% of your results. For example, if you have 10 tasks to complete in a day, 2 of those will turn out to be worth more than the other 8 items put together.
I should be focusing on the things that are most important in the present moment. I told you I had started some courses right? I have decided to put them on the back burner for now and only come back to them in the months ahead when I have less on my plate. There are a couple of other projects which I will be letting go of so that I can at least come up for air.
Hugs,
Anne
Quote of the week
You will naturally make a lot of mistakes along the way. You’ll start working out and miss a day. You’ll get that promotion, but mess up your first project. You’ll be helpful at home, but then get into an unnecessary argument. Just keep standing back up. As long as you keep standing up and learn from your mistakes, you’ll keep making progress, and in a year you’ll be much further down the path than you would have been if you’d quit the first time you fell.