Have you ever felt that you couldn’t do it anymore?

I thought I was doing everything right; I worked long hours to advance my career, smashing myself at the gym but not getting any results. I was trying to be the best at everything (note to self ... perfectionism in full control). I thought I had to keep working harder and longer.

But I was getting through in zombie mode. I couldn’t sleep even though I was so exhausted. I felt on edge and anxious and like I was being pulled in every direction. It was starting to feel hopeless.

The smallest things would set me off, and I only had extremes...
I was either too tired to care ... or wired ... or in tears.

The constant long-term stress was causing physical symptoms that I couldn’t keep ignoring.  I had hit burnout, and I had nothing more to give.

Have you ever had that moment when you made a decision that changed your life?  On the way to work, I turned left instead of right, and everything changed.

I...

Are you an overachiever?  (Yep, hand up over here – guilty!)

But, when I get too much on my agenda (which I’m prone to let happen often), I usually end up frustrated, anxious and distracted.

When I get overwhelmed, my ‘go to’ behaviour is …

• I make lists
• I get busier
• I can’t say no
• I add to those to-do lists
• I get irritable
• I get exhausted
• I get resentful
• I get nothing done
• I make more lists

But what I’ve found is that when I STOP to make SPACE …

If I stop doing ALL THE THINGS for an hour, an afternoon or a day …

That space I’ve made allows the CALM to return …

And when the calm returns, the FLOW comes back into that space and replaces the overwhelm!

And then …

• Everything becomes easier
• I get more done
• Little things don’t matter anymore
• I have more time
• I have more energy
• I move more
• I’m a better, nicer person to be around

...

I wish I could look like ….

I wish my body didn’t have …

Ever caught yourself saying or thinking these things? 

Let’s talk about our expectations.

Are they your own or are they actually someone else?  

Are they ideals being forced on us, telling us how we are "supposed" to look to be perfect, happy, accepted?

We spend a lot of time and money trying to achieve the perfect body.  But what really is the perfect body?  It changes depending on where you live, what era you live in, who you talk to.  It’s a changing and evolving thing.

I think the perfect body is the one we were given, that allows us to live, to move, to feel, to do things.  Not the one that the television, the magazines, the Instagram influencers, the advertising tries to sell us.

Remember, as long as we are discontented and unhappy, we are more willing to buy what they want to sell us.

Your body is yours.  It’s the only one you are going to...

Let’s talk boundaries … For most of the women I coach, this is the number one thing they struggle with.

A lack of healthy boundaries leads to overwhelm and burnout, and resentment.

While we are running around doing everything for everyone else, we are putting our own needs last.  

Often, when we try to give ourselves time and space, we are met with resistance from others and feelings of anxiety and guilt.

This is why it is important to work through the “why” of a lack of boundaries in our lives.  This can open up the ability to recognize our own behaviours and allow others to take advantage and take up all our energy.

Then we can start to put some healthy boundaries into our life, so we can rest, breathe and restore!

Need some help?  Here are some steps if you want to set some boundaries for yourself.

Recognize your feelings.  It can be hard to set boundaries around something when you don’t know how you feel about...

BALANCING EVERYTHING

Balancing life can be hard.

We need to take into account so many moving parts.  

Our partner’s needs, our children’s needs, our work commitments, our friends and family’s expectations.  

We want to have the career – the family – the lifestyle – the things!  

We also need to pay the bills, clean the house, look after our elderly parents, climb that corporate ladder and the list goes on and on.

In all of that, we can get lost.  

Where do our own needs fit in?  

How do we fit all of that in and make sure we ourselves are healthy and happy?

Often we shut down those parts of ourselves that are crying out for attention.  We stop listening to our bodies.

We end up putting ourselves in a more and more constrictive place – in everything we do or everything we don’t do for ourselves.  

We will look after ourselves later. 

Then we are surprised when our...