Sustainable, I was told this is a coin word. Sustainable means to be able to maintain a certain rate or level. I will confess, the pace I have been running for the past few months is not sustainable. I can see this being reflected my physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellness.
In an effort realign with myself with my wellness lifestyle, I recently switched up my exercise program from weight training and high intensity interval training to yoga because of a worsening pain in my right knee. I first noticed the pain several months ago. But I felt the demand from myself to keep going. I didn’t want to stop because I was afraid I would lose all my momentum.
But I was disappointed with the pain in my knee and that caused a change my mindset with the workouts. It was forced. I was just going through the motions. I wasn’t connecting with my body during my workouts. I was celebrating all of what my body could do. And taking care of what my body was telling me was wrong.
I was losing connection with my goals, too. The stress of the minor physical setback added to my overwhelming to-do list and on-the-go pace. I was trying so hard! I began to notice changes for the worse in other areas of my life as well. I felt like I was still doing okay as long as I was connecting spiritually. But if any of you are familiar with this scenario, the stress, the disconnection bleeds into every part of our lives.
I set my well-being barometer on my spiritual wellness. When I am having a difficult time connecting with the Word or my prayers, I have realized I have work to do. And most of the time it comes back to rest.
In this fast pace world, we find ourselves going at a speed that is completely unsustainable. I saw a quote this morning “I love how being an adult is just saying ‘But after this week things will slow down a bit again’ to yourself until you die.” Yep. That just about sums it up!
But what if it wasn’t like that?
What if we weren’t trying to do everything and we just did our thing?
This is hard. It is hard because I don’t want to miss out! I want to experience everything! I want to know everyone! I want to do it all!
But it is just not possible for me to be all and do all. It’s not. (I had to say it twice because I am really trying to get it through my head.) We try to do everything, and wind up doing them all poorly. Or we can do what is most important to us, and do those things really well!
How do you decide: you set goals for yourself, for your family, and for your life. Then you filter all of your options through these goals. If the opportunity is going to get your closer to the goal, you get to say yes! If the opportunity is going to take you farther or not progress at all, you get to say no.
A couple long standing goals of mine is to prevent injuries by gaining strength. To increase my endurance to keep up with my young children. Recently I had a friend invite me to join her and some other women to complete a 8-10 mile mud, obstacle course. Sounds exciting! I love trying new things! And having stories to share! This appears to line up with my goals, however I want to gain strength to prevent injury and my knee is already not at its usual strength. So because this fun event is not going to progress me forward to my goal, I will say no this year!
It is hard to say no. It takes discipline. Discipline is the the secret to sustainability. Discipline is what gets you to your goals. I can be distracted by all my options and everything that is going on around me, but that is not a sustainable pace for me. Focusing on physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellness goals along with our goals as a family that is a pace I can sustain.
Calming Tea Recipe
6 oz hot water
1 Chamomile Tea
1/2 tsp grated ginger root
1/2 tsp local honey
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
Heat water in tea pot. Put Chamomile tea leaves in infuser. Once water is hot, stir in Chamomile tea infuser, ginger root, honey, cinnamon and lemon juice to hot water. Cover with a towel, allow to sit for 5-10 minutes. Stir. Enjoy.
-Melissa
An Invitation 