It’s Okay to Slow Down (From Someone Who Sometimes Can’t Stop)

This week I had to slow waaaaay down. It felt foreign and a little icky at first, but it was much needed and now I’m glad I took the time I needed to stop, rest, and recollect myself before charging ahead. Living in a “hustle-harder” culture, we don’t always feel like slowing down is a beneficial (or even acceptable) thing to do, but it’s so important. You can’t run on an empty battery, and I learned that the hard way this week. Let me explain—

It’s okay to slow down sometimes. Even if you can’t go kick-it on the beach for a bit, it’s important to prioritize some form of self-care when you need it.

I was at my wit’s end, and it showed.

This week I was due to film a commercial after coming off of two photoshoots in the past week (and the constant, never-ending barage of my 40-hours-a-week day job at Comcast NBCUniversal.) On top of that, I had two other side-gigs calling that I was trying to juggle, in addition to my marriage (because Andrew deserves quality time with me, too), being a pet parent, and then, unexpectedly, a family health scare.

All of this left me feeling drained. Absolutely, irrevocably drained. I was finding myself feeling “weepy” (read: crying at random intervals, like in my car for seemingly “no reason”, for instance), tired, irritable (which isn’t fair to my loved ones, who often end up on the wrong-end of my misplaced aggression and frustration) and just over it. But, what was I supposed to do? Wouldn’t the world end if I stopped go-go-going?

Actually, no. The world wouldn’t end, and that’s something I had to remind myself (with help from my amazing husband, friends and family members who remind me to “take it easy” sometimes.) — It may seem simple, but literally taking two days to say “NO” to extra work and simply carve out time in the day to take a walk or take a nap made all the difference in the world.

It turns out turning my phone on “Do Not Disturb” mode for an hour didn’t result in the apocalypse. Of course I kept in touch with my family member who’s health as been of concern, but tuning everything else out for even an hour at a time during the day made a huge difference over the weekend and into this week. It was that simple.

I haven’t had much time to blog lately, and that’s a part of this, too— sometimes we can take a break, stop “hustling” for a day or two, and that’s okay. This is just a friendly reminder that sometimes you downright need to slowdown, and it’ll most likely be alright if you do.

Be gentle with yourself (and with others), always. You’ll definitely feel better for it in the end, and I promise the world will keep spinning even if you take a second to breath.

Xoxo, MM.