Have you ever caught yourself running around like a headless chicken?  These days, we spend our lives being so busy, and to borrow a saying from a good friend of mine, we end up being “human doings” instead of ”human beings”.   

Life tends to be hectic. Work is all consuming, you want to fit in as many engagements as you can, time is of the essence, things are made so accessible to us, that we often forget to just relax and be with ourselves. Information and connections are so available through the internet, our smartphones tend to rule our lives. 

When you are waiting to meet up with a friend, what do you tend to do? Do you check your phone for messages or emails or catch up on Facebook?  Before a meeting, do you engage with people or are you on your phone? When you are out with friends, do you have a phone-policy? Do the phones come out, do you check when it pings for the arrival of new messages or can you resist that urge? Can you put your phone on silent so you don’t hear the arrival of new messages? 

I can draw a comparison to my own fitness training.  I really enjoy a good run or cycle and I love squeezing in a good session before the work day starts.  I can get carried away with doing 6 or 7 sessions a week and squeezing in the odd game of tennis and a couple of yoga classes as well.  By the end of the week, I am absolutely hammered, I have expended too much energy, I am really tired as I have gotten up very early most days, and actually, I am not a good friend to anyone, least of all myself as I am too tired to have a coherent thought.  The body was designed to perform at a certain level, which we can improve through exercise and training.  At the same time, it was also designed to need regular nourishment and rest in order to function optimally.  A definite balance is needed here. 

I think we can all think back to a situation where, due to the stress in our lives, we just weren’t thinking coherently and ended up in a situation we could not handle quite as well as we should have.

• ·When do we stop running, sit down, relax and take a break so we can assimilate all that has happened and evaluate it in order to move forward?
• ·When do we stop to give the body a chance to recover so we can accumulate our efforts and benefit optimally?
• ·Have you figured out when you are at your most productive?
• ·What do you need to function on your top level?

In our fast-paced world with so many things at our fingertips, you need to take time out to look after yourself and be the best you can be. Stop the treadmill, take time out and just be.  

#livelifelovelife