Are you a human being, or a human doing?

Does your conversation go like this, when you run into that acquaintance at the grocery store? 

“Hey! How are you? I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“I’m good, busy but good. See ya later!” 

Busy, but good. How many times do we repeat some version of that throughout the day? How many times do you think to yourself, “if I only had time…” How often do you get to the end of the day only to realize it flew by and you’re not even sure what you got accomplished? 

We have glorified busy. To be an overachiever is the best way to feel accomplished. To be so busy you can’t enjoy life is the only way to live. To have every day on your calendar full must mean that you are successful and well-liked. Right? Yeah… I thought that sounded a little crazy too. But, somehow that is the lifestyle we have fallen accustomed to. That is the standard we have set for ourselves. My dear girl, it doesn’t have to be this way. 

You were born a human being. As in a human that is allowed to “be” not just “do”. How much of this life that you have led has been you doing more than you are being? Not only that, how much of what you are doing do you enjoy?

You have a family and sure they drive you crazy and sure you’re running from school to practice with just minutes to spare, but are you allowing yourself to stop just long enough to appreciate the way your kids have grown? Do you notice how their style is changing or how they are coming into their personalities more and more? Do you stop long enough to truly hear them when they talk about their day? Do you still take time to just be together? Remember when they were babies and you’d just cuddle in the rocking chair? You had a million other things to do, but they needed you, so there you stayed. Just because they don’t ask to cuddle so much anymore doesn’t mean they don’t need your attention and time any less. They need you to just be. 

You need you to just be. Allow yourself to be still, to be silent, to be at peace. It will be hard at first. Hard to slow down. Hard to not be going a million miles an hour. It’s okay to start slow. Make yourself just sit for 2 minutes. No scrolling, no TV, no thinking of to-do lists. Just sit and breathe. Big deep breaths. Let your body, your mind, and your soul, just be. After you get good at 2 minute breaks, up that to 3, and then 4, and then *gasp* 5 minutes. Keep going until you find your sweet spot. Maybe that’s 9 minutes, maybe it’s 19. Whatever it takes for you to ‘be’ just as much as you ‘do.’ 

Don’t argue here, 2 minutes is not enough to totally offset the productivity of your day, but it is enough to refresh your mental wellbeing. And it might just make you more productive in the long run anyway. If nothing else, it is enough to bring you back to a human being, not just a human doing. 

If you’re ready for some guidance on your path to being you, book a free call with me and we’ll discover all the ways we can work together!