Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Finding Rest & Maintaining Balance



If you're anything like me, you thrive off busy days, lack of sleep, and a constantly filled calendar (with no time scheduled for R&R). There's just something about the busy life that I absolutely love! (Maybe it's the fact that the more busy I am, the less time I have for those socially awkward encounters...which I'll talk more about later)..

While in London, my schedule has been nothing but (organized) chaos. While studying full time, I found some way to keep even busier with one full time job and one part time job. Now that I'm no longer a student my schedule seems even more hectic. When I'm not jumping from train to tube to bus, I'm zig zagging though Oxford Street or preparing things for a client.. I've realized that while I love keeping busy, the pressures of all my deadline was slowly getting to me and suddenly realized how anxiety can slowly creep up! 


I've found these 5 tips useful in finding rest and maintaining balance in my seemingly hectic life.
  1. Respect your time. This means creating a schedule. Sticking to appointments. Ensuring that colleagues, business partners etc also follow suit and also respect this space. (and making sure that this is reciprocal)!
  2. Be vocal. Don't be afraid to let those around you (i.e. boss, colleagues, etc) know when you're feeling stressed or getting anxiety. If your work load is too much for you to handle, speak up!
  3. Learn how to say "no." While balancing academics and work, I've learned to hard way that it is okay to tell people when you are unable to deliver. This can apply to almost anything: no to meeting up with friends for a night out when you just have way too much on your plate; no to taking on another client for business services...
  4. Be intentional about "me time." I've recently learned the essence of taking just a small amount of my day to focus on me. In this time, I often spend time with God and work on spiritual growth and refuel what my day has taken out of me. I love reading the book of Psalms and perusing those calming passages. I also find it refreshing to take some time to watch a comedy..(lately it's been The Proud Family!!! Yesss...I found it on YouTube, y'all...and it's been giving me life and laughter!). So, be intentional about taking some time out daily to do something you you! (Maybe even a mani/pedi!).
  5. Protect your resting space. During this past summer and early autumn, I struggled to maintain a normal sleep pattern and had so much trouble sleeping. I would often fall asleep by 2am and wake up around 6am every day. What kept me up? Work. Or the thought of work. I'd often fall asleep with my notebook right next to my pillow and my laptop not too far away. I had to learn to protect the one space I had for rest.My bedroom. For some time I did not allow myself to work in my room and made it a rule that I would do work everywhere but that space. Soon after I started separating work and rest, my bedroom became less associated with anxiety and my sleeping pattern was once again back to normal.

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" 

- Matthew 11:28

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