When is the last time you remember yourself taking a break?

I don’t mean taking 15 minutes to pee by yourself without a child interrupting you. When is the last time you took a REAL break?

Too many of us are burning the candle at both ends and wondering why we feel like we are drowning.

We go from days full of taking care of patients, to nights full of taking care of our kids (or spouses, parents, friends… hey, who don’t we take care of.) How often are you taking a break to do anything for yourself?

I know, I know. Your practice is crazy busy right now, still catching up from being shut down and still dealing with all the new protocols. Your kids are schooling at home, or maybe they are back to school but that comes with running to practice, helping with homework and the night never seems quite long enough. Sound familiar?

Why is it so hard for us to slow down?

After years of “being productive” and over-acheiving we are conditioned to just keep moving. Do you feel it too? Is it just me?

We didn’t get where we are today but resting, but by pushing ourselves, by striving for something. But now how do we shut off that constant striving in order to prioritize our own mental and physical wellbeing? Don’t you feel sometimes that there are parts of life that are just whizzing past in our hustling to get through it all?

Truth is, we can’t just hustle our way through it all. Eventually it will catch up with us. We’ve been taught that to get ahead, to be a success, we have to be constantly moving, but now that constant motion is taking its toll.

How do we fight back against the badge of busyness?

What would it look like for you to take back a little piece of your time for yourself? Maybe having someone clean your home so you can go for a walk in the park instead each week. Or handing over posting insurance payments to a service so that you aren’t spending your Sunday afternoons hip deep in administrative tasks. Better yet, scheduling admin time into your week (yes, even if it means an hour or two of missed patient care) so that your weekends are your own to taking a break and spend with your family, or in nature, or doing that hobby you love but never have time for.

Here’s the hard truth, friend… if you continue on the path of busyness that you currently find yourself traveling, one day you will come to the end of the road to have a look around and see that you’ve really gotten nowhere at all.