Staying cool when the heat is on Practical insights for more flow and less stress | | | Photo by Carolina Haza on Unsplash | | Hey there,
If there's one thing I've learned on my own journey to being better at stress, it's that you need to cut yourself some slack. Often.
It is possible to have high standards and do amazing things without busting your butt all the time. And sometimes we all feel like shit, are unmotivated and eat junk food.
At least most people do, and that’s OK! These are tough times and expecting yourself to ‘operate’ as though they’re not is silly. We are not robots; we are human beings.
High standards are a good thing, but they come with high expectations - also a good thing, so long as you are aware of the potential downside of, well, any kind of expectations really.
Cutting someone slack. Meaning: - Give additional freedom to someone
- Not judge someone severely
- Give someone a break
- Make some allowances for someone
- Allow a person to something that is usually not allowed
Source
I love this so much! Replace 'someone' with 'yourself' and be sure to cut others slack right now as well. | | | Need a hand to lock in some tools to help you get through this time with your mental health intact? Book a complimentary private Zoom session with me here. | | Give yourself a big fat break
An incredibly common theme in my work helping people be better at stress is the realisation that they are much kinder to and more understanding of others than they are of themselves.
As I've touched on, the high expectations we have of friends, family and colleagues and random folk are nothing compared to those we reserve for ourselves. So please friends, be kind to yourself at this time. Parenting has never been harder, work more uncertain and demands so full-on for so many of us.
There’s also another way to cut yourself some slack apart from a kinder attitude and the above definition – and that is, actually building some slack into your schedule. This is such a simple idea from this article by Oliver Burkeman that’s an oldie but a goodie.
How you build some slack into your day or week will depend on the type of work you do. But it's important to acknowledge that the majority of us underestimate how long tasks will take and therefore building in some scheduled catch-up time makes a lot of sense. As Burkeman notes;
“I feel as if I've discovered a minor loophole in the fabric of time itself”.
So simple. I’m giving it a try. From next week I have ZERO scheduled in for Fridays. | | | Give yourself permission to be creative | Ethan Hawke | TED Talk | |
I give you permission
Closely related to giving yourself a big fat break is giving yourself permission. Permission to feel like crap. Permission to do nothing. Permission to be unmotivated or even, God forbid, uninspired once in a blue moon.
But mostly, following on from my recent post about creativity as therapy, give yourself permission to get creative.
What is it with women in particular? Men will generally be more than happy to pursue their creative endeavours in their ‘shed’.
I can’t tell you the number of times I give permission to women to get creative. Once I tell them research backs that getting creative helps you be less stressed they're on board. So grant yourself that permission right now. There are some ideas of how to get creative in the above link.
Getting creative is healing. It heals you and it heals others too. I love Ethan Hawk’s recent TED Talk on giving yourself permission to be creative.
“The thing that worries me sometimes whenever you talk about creativity, because it can have this kind of feel that it’s just nice, you know or it’s warm or it’s something pleasant. It’s not, it’s vital. It’s the way we heal each other.”
This has certainly been the case for me.
Lastly, I'd be super grateful if you'd share this fortnightly newsletter by forwarding it to friends and family you think would love it and on your socials using the buttons below. 🙏
And please click reply to share your thoughts and let me know what topics will help YOU be less stressed.
With love and warmth,
Suse x
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www.lilowellness.com.au | | | | |
