Issue #46: Are You Hiding Behind Rest?
When self-care becomes a crutch
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Hey friend!
As an advocate for rest, self-care, and an abundance of naps, I believe that if you want to thrive as an entrepreneur, mother, spouse, or whatever title you hold, then you have to make yourself a priority.
I believe in taking a full work-free lunch break.
I believe in using your PTO and taking a day off to do nothing.
And I believe in scheduling naps into your daily schedule.
But I don’t believe that rest should be used as an excuse for a lack of action. I mean, you are an entrepreneur after all with a business that depends on you doing the work. And trust me, it’s hard af.
To be honest with you, it has been my main excuse for not diving into new projects over the past few months. 🥴
I have a big, new idea that I’ve been mapping out the details for (you can see a little sneak peek here). The problem is, this idea has mostly stayed either in my head or in the Goodnotes app on my iPad.
Instead of breaking that idea down into actionable steps and making strides toward bringing it to life, I did nothing in the name of self-care. I told myself that it’s been a busy Summer so my body needed to rest. I told myself that parenting is hard so I needed to spend more of the time that my daughter is in school on self-care. I told myself, I feel a little more tired than normal so I’ll just sleep in a little longer.
While all of these situations were absolutely true, the problem was I realized that I was using rest as an excuse for the bigger issue.
This idea that I have been dreaming up has terrified me in more ways than one. And with fear, typically comes excuses. One important fact that I’ve learned over the years is that fear will force you to cling to any excuse that will stop you from taking action. In my case, I was using my need for rest as a crutch for not taking the scary steps that I needed to.
I made myself believe that because I am such a big advocate for self-care, it was ok to spend a little more time catering to myself, but what I was really doing was avoiding the steps that I needed to take.
If you feel that you are in a season that requires more rest than normal, then absolutely tend to your needs. But if you find yourself constantly in a state of rest and no action, I want you to ask yourself if more rest is really what you need or if you’re avoiding a bigger issue.
This is a safe space, I would love to know if you’ve ever hid behind rest or some other reason for not taking action. Let me know in the comments!
Thank you to my friends Krystal and Melissa for inspiring this week’s topic!
Cheers to an incredible week!
– Alisha
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
GOOD FINDS
🍁 On my Fall to-do list. How to plan your own writing retreat to find creativity again.
👗 Many of us have found ourselves here before. Here’s how to get dressed when you’re depressed.
👶🏾 Can your friendships survive your new baby? What to do when you’re the friend with a child.
💳 If being outside this Summer wrecked your checking account and broke your budget, don’t worry, you still have time to bounce back for Fall.
🔮 A deep dive into industry predictions and the future of online business.
BEFORE YOU GO, TAKE A DEEP BREATH
I've been feeling the same. I had a lot going on outside work this summer and I keep telling myself that it's ok to take things slow and I need rest... but it's getting to the point where I'm just making excuses for not doing the work I know I need to do.