Real Self-Care: Pause

This post is part of a month-long series on Real Self-Care for world-changers. It’s about the experimentation: figuring out what works for you and following your heart. Simple, messy and everything in between. Self-care should be custom, intuitive, feasible and kind – to serve your actual life.

Pause

Recently, I’ve been working with a powerful word: Pause.

I found that I was rushing from one project to the next, not even celebrating or acknowledging when something really awesome would happen. I’ve always been someone who loves to check things off her to do list, but I was surprised by the amount of resistance that I had to just pausing for a moment.

I’m not sure where this trait came from, and I don’t consider myself a fast-paced person. But this struggle was real. I chafed against the encouragement to sit with my accomplishments, to give myself the gift of a moment. I’m still not sure why I have this urge.

And I’m committed to transforming this habit. I’m not wrong, but the habit of diving into the next thing isn’t serving me. So, I’m committed to the pause.

There are a ton of ways to take this pause.

I like to take a moment of gratitude or mindfulness before a meal. I practice observing my breath and noticing the little pause in between the exhale and inhale. I’m even taking time to write down the little (or big) victories that happen.

Pausing actually adds up to more spaciousness in my life, my mind and my heart.

I take a few breaths in the morning before I get out of bed or grab my phone. To move gently or ease into the day. Stopping before I start.

Just allowing myself to be more easeful and slow down.