It's Ok To Stop.

When this whole “thing” happened (schools closed, husband working at home, stay at home orders, etc) I started to HUSTLE again. I toughened up, tried to ignore my stress, and prepared to sacrifice. 

Within a few days, I felt physical pain, exhaustion, mental fuzziness, and like I could cry or scream at the drop of a hat.

One afternoon I put my head down on the kitchen table and said to my husband, “I feel like I’m running a marathon that I didn’t train for, didn’t register for, but have been forced to run and now it’s mile 5 and I’ve hit the wall.”  

In his oh-so-brilliant-way, my husband asked me, “So what do you do?”

“I don’t know. I can’t STOP! It’s not like I can sit down in the middle of a race,” I replied. 

To which he responded, "WHY NOT?” 

Many of us are responding just like I did saying, “I can’t stop!” 

But, WHY NOT?

Going non-stop is costing us. And many of us are ignoring the costs because we’re believing that we CAN’T stop. And that’s just a limiting belief. 

We can. In fact, stopping is a smart strategy.

Stopping and resting can allow us to see our situation from a broader view and think about it differently. We can then receive guidance from within and tap into new ideas. 

Stopping and resting can also allow us to heal our wounds -- mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. Most of us have experienced some level of trauma from this experience. Self-compassion, self-kindness, self-nurturing will help heal what hurts right now. 

You get to define what “stopping” looks like for you. 

When my husband asked me, “why not?” I stopped. I thought about what it would look like for me to “sit down on the course” and rest. That week, it looked like canceling a couple of meetings and rearranging my schedule to prioritize breaks and rest. 

Stopping has also looked like taking vacation days in the middle of all of this. 

Turning off all devices and finding nature.

Having a good cry. 

And, giving myself permission to not perform at my best. 

What could stopping look like for you? 

What do you think might be possible for you, your business, your work, your family, if you stopped for a little while? 

In hindsight, going non-stop for those few days was quickly costing me my ability to heal my body, think sharply, strategize for the course ahead, and have more patience for myself and my family.  

When I stopped and rested, I saw the situation differently, tapped into the resources of my inner wisdom for guidance, and worked with my husband to create a new plan. My physical pain also went away.   

You have inner wisdom that’s guiding you right now, whether you can sense it or not. This wisdom knows what you want and the path of least resistance. 

Stopping will help you to access that inner wisdom. 

You have permission to stop, sit down on the course and rest. Let's see what you gain by stopping and resting.