I can do it all. True or False?

I recently listened to an interview of Rachel Macy Stafford, best selling author of “Live Love Now”, “Only Love Today” “Hands Free Life” and “Hands Free Mama”. She recently published a new book “Soul Shift: The Weary Human’s Guide to Getting Unstuck & Reclaiming Your Path to Joy.” In the interview, there is one line that struck me hard. She was recounting a story whereby a friend asked, “How do you do it all?!”Her reply? “I could do it all because I missed out on life.”

That stayed with me. How much do we do because we can? And how much do we miss out on because we do as much as we can? What is enough? Where do we draw the line? At the core of this is the concept that we are Human Beings, not Human Doings. Yes, a bit tongue in cheek but profound nonetheless. In our attempt to be “worlds greatest mom” or “employee of the year” or in our attempt to prove how dedicated we are to our job, our family, our career, etc we keep saying yes and we keep doing.

When was the last time you consciously and intentionally said no to something even though you had the time or bandwidth to do it? We go about living our lives filled to the brim, packed to the gills. When people ask us how we’re doing, with a heavy sigh, we reply with an “I’m good”. Or we talk about how busy we are, running around with the kids or trying to finish work projects or jet-setting around from one place to another when deep down, all we truly crave is to have some time alone where nothing is expected of us AND we don’t feel guilty for that alone time.

We all know someone who can’t sit still—someone who is always busy puttering around in the house or taking her kids to some practice or game or working on something. When was the last time you did something for the pure sake of enjoyment, without any obligation? When was the last time you were able to sit still and not have a laundry list of to-do items running through your mind? When was the last time you were able to read a book for leisure without random thoughts such as the grocery list or making dinner popping into your mind?

All of those are signs that we are doing too much. And there may be some of us who are happy doing that. But if you are feeling like you are running yourself ragged or that you don’t have time to just breathe, you’re living a life with no margin. It’s the equivalent of reading a book that has words filling each page from corner to corner without any well, margins. It’s too much and it steals from our enjoyment.

So if any of this resonates with you, find one thing that you can cut from your day and reclaim that time for yourself. You won’t regret it.

(And if you need help getting started, contact me for a coaching session and I’d be happy to help).

References:

“Soul Shift: The Weary Human’s Guide to Getting Unstuck & Reclaiming Your Path to Joy.” By Rachel Macy Stafford, 2023.