1706: On giving yourself what you need

And the reason I'm bringing this up today, it's going to seem quite tangential, but we're going to get there, is because lately I've been thinking about for myself, what is something that I'm terming a luxury that is actually a necessity? So going back to the whole revenge bedtime procrastination thing, I think one of the main reasons I do it is because I don't give myself time to decompress during the day.

I spend a lot of time coaching and on Zoom and holding space.

And I know for me, I haven't been the best at giving myself time to really decompress from that.

To quite literally give myself a breather and time to catch up with myself and time just to process everything.

But one of the things I'm realizing lately is that after a call, if I can give myself 10 minutes to go outside and just really breathe and not really think about anything, it makes a world of difference.

But what I've been doing instead is thinking that that is a luxury that is always shit to do that I haven't got time for that and depriving myself of that.

So no wonder when I get to bedtime, My brain's like, come on, can we just have a quick holiday? Like, can we just take a bit of a break? Because I've been overloaded all day.

And scrolling on your phone is a perfect way to do that.

So this is a very, very long-winded way of saying...

What are the things in your life that you know really help you and make a massive difference that you're branding as a luxury rather than a necessity? And the things that each of us need are going to vary completely from person to person.

what really matters to you and what is something that really calms you or gives you life.

Maybe something that somebody else wouldn't even think of doing or somebody else would think is a luxury and that's okay.

The important thing here is to listen to ourselves and try and give ourselves what we need no matter how uncomfortable that may feel.

Now, it is absolutely not all about being productive all the time.

But if you're having a hard time giving yourself permission to do the things you need to do, take this as an example.

I know on the days where I give myself time to decompress.

I am way less likely to spend literally hours on my phone at the end of the day.

And by taking that time, I can actually get a decent night's sleep.

I actually feel more fulfilled at the end of the day and I wake up feeling a bit more refreshed.

So give yourself grace with the things that you procrastinate with.

know that decompression is really important and maybe the ways you procrastinate are more about you needing that decompression time than they are the fact that you're lazy, which you are not.

And here's to recognising which things that are luxuries are actually necessities.