I noticed an old pattern showing up last night. I’d been ignoring the whispers from my soul asking me to ‘slow down’. I was up late, pushing to prepare a new program ready for launch and getting ready for a webinar coming up soon. My body didn’t want to be at the computer any more. I’d been cranky and short with the kids all day, and had snapped at Brett too. I was at the end of my cycle, commonly known as the ‘premenstrual’ phase, when all the old, unresolved stuff comes up to rear its ugly head. In fact, I was beyond the end of my cycle and literally waiting for my blood to flow. Any minute now.
The irony? The program and the webinar I am writing is about, among other things, finding the balance when you’re working from home with children. I was writing about the very things I was experiencing the opposite of in that moment! When working from home, there is no one to tell you when to stop. There are no work hours, no child-free workspace, no set lunch breaks and no allocated days off. This can seem like heaven at first glance, and it can just as easily slide into hell really quickly unless you take responsibility and have strong boundaries about how you spend your time.
Sitting at my computer late last night after everyone else was in bed, I thought fuck this! All day I had a niggling feeling that I was pushing myself too hard and needed to reschedule the webinar to give myself a more realistic timeframe to prepare without pushing myself. The old me would have stuck to the original dates and pushed myself to meet the deadlines, even if it meant staying up til 3am to get it done. That’s an old pattern I developed way back in my teens.
It’s not just me. There’s a cultural expectation that we will push ourselves to get things done, and ignore the messages from our body to slow down. Over time, we start to lose touch with these messages. We keep going until we are falling apart. Our bodies give little signs and symptoms like headaches or pains, and we take a pill to make it go away so we can ‘soldier on’. Efficiency and productivity are the holy grail. Must keep going.
Well, I’m not playing that game any more. I’m living life on my terms and honouring my body. I listen to those messages now. I’m reconnecting with my body’s wisdom. But I’m not perfect either. I’m on my path of growth like all humans. Like last night. It took a few days, then I noticed the old pattern playing out and I caught myself. I stopped it. In that moment, when I decided to surrender and reschedule the webinar, my blood flowed. Like magic. The mind-body connection confirmed yet again.
That is the beautiful thing about running my own business from home. I don’t have a ‘boss’ breathing down my neck. I can be flexible and change plans. I can communicate with the people who are signed up to my webinar (hello if this is you!), and trust that whatever is in my highest good is also for the highest good of others. I truly believe that. In fact, an even better idea flowed in once I surrendered. There is an earlier webinar I ran which is basically a prerequisite to the new one, ‘How to Get Shit Done AND Be Present to Your Kids’. I’m sharing the replay link to that first, so anyone who hasn’t seen that yet can do so before joining me live for the next one.
The new me is stepping into more trust and freedom. Giving myself permission to listen to my body, trust my intuition, and honour my cycle. And it is my wish that you design a lifestyle for yourself that allows you the freedom to honour yourself too.
That said, if you’d like to come to my next webinar, “Behind the Scenes: How I run an online business while homeschooling 5 children” it’s happening on Wednesday the 20th July at 10 am AEST and you can sign up for free HERE.
Come to my next FREE webinar!
Behind the Scenes
How I run an online business while homeschooling 5 children.
