I’ve been telling you tidbits about my break and how things turned out. Speaking up and setting boundaries so my improvement continued became an imperative lesson to learn. The first part of my break I really did take the opportunity to enjoy my time. I played more with pottery, worked on puzzles, went hiking, loved on the cats and, let’s be honest, slept a lot. It was like giving myself permission to take a break allowed my body to embrace a much-needed crash.

I sincerely didn’t realize how fuzzy my thinking had become or how cloudy my world had become. I had been pushing to achieve everything asked of me, trying to add self-care and awareness where I could and yet…oh how I had fallen.

Owning my reality meant I had to speak up about my needs. And not only that, I had to ask for help from those around to achieve healing and improvement. I asked. I communicated. I set expectations. And I was feeling better. Slowly. Gradually. It took time to get where I was and, oh boy, it was taking time to get back out of it.

So as I started improving and taking on a little more – something as simple as two meetings a week – I found my improvement stagnated and the clouds began to return. I could feel the progress slipping away. I was more active with business because I intuitively knew my team needed me. They needed to see me and know I was with them. Know I was doing okay. And yet, giving that to them took something away from me. I knew my improvement was fragile and I needed more time.

It’s like pulling a muscle. You pull back initially to let it heal. And as time goes on you feel better so you think you can go back to what you were doing before. But the muscle has another idea and you find you’re back at square one with healing. Frustrated, you can’t operate at full capacity on your own timeline. 

So, I had to set new boundaries. With myself. My partner. My team. And guess who was responsible for keeping them in place? You know where this is going – ugh, if only someone else could be responsible! Only I know what I need. Only I know my limits. My own abilities.

I navigated it. It took constant checking in. It took recognizing my own energy levels and acknowledging when I had given too much, gone too far.

My goal is to continue improving. Every. Single. Day. My little steps? Take one day, maybe even one moment, at a time. And, you know what? I’m so much better. 😊

So, how are you doing? Do you need to set some boundaries? How are your “little steps” going? Are there any adjustments you need to make?