This winter/early spring, as you’ll soon tire of hearing, was verrry stressful. I had a notion that being super-busy would feel energizing and empowering (?), but in the end it was just horrifying (lol). I started to feel anxious about life in general and stuck and even hopeless. I hadn’t realized to what extent the work stress was impacting me until the semester ended (I was both taking classes and teaching classes, and then it all stopped). Suddenly I became a new person. My angst about where to live next and where I’m going in life and what’s the point of everything just…poof. Not that I don’t still have questions, but the panicked, trapped feeling faded.
I realized that the #1 commodity I need to protect in order to feel positive is margin. I need time for myself to just be, to do things I enjoy, to try new stuff out. This Sunday I went on an epic NYC day trip and I wrote in my journal afterwards, “Today was terrific and I felt like myself.” Exhale.
Some questions to ask yourself when you feel stuck:
- How can I find margin in my life? What do I want less of?
- What did I used to enjoy that I can get back into?
- What do I want to learn?
