You Really Can Have It All

Hi! Remember me?? Well, that week without a post flew by. I can’t promise it won’t happen again. Life has been busy the last few days, and I’ve been feeling the effects of the go, go, go once I get home in the evening. Anyone else? Yes, I thought so.

All that to say, I prefer being busy than the feeling of having nothing to do, but I have realized if I can’t get off work, run to the store, squeeze in a work out, and sit down in front of another screen at home to write each day – that’s 100% okay.

This totally applies to you too – we all need to cut ourselves some slack when we feel we are getting pulled in lots of directions and can’t excel at each one 24/7.

For today’s Currently, instead of talking about three things from this week – I’m focusing on one and explaining the talk behind it…

{Feeling // Motivated}

This ties back to a speaker we had at work through our women’s organization. The author Yvonne James Furth, former President of Draft Worldwide (now ad agency FCB, where I interned a couple summers ago), came to speak about a book she co-authored. It focuses on putting mindfulness at the center of your life.

Yvonne, and co-author Molly Rudberg-Leshnock, wrote From the Yoga Mat to the Corner Office: A Mindful Approach to Business Success  that speaks to finding and consistently exercising balance in your life. The most unique part of this motivational book is that it ties aspects of yoga to your everyday routines – like breath, focus, balance, flexibility – by demonstrating how you can put this certain aspect to work on the mat, and at the office.

We left the talk with a free copy of the book that I’m so excited to read through. I also took away a big nugget of wisdom that I’ve always been behind, but think I often lose sight of in all that’s going on. I feel refreshed after hearing it again from someone like Yvonne.

Ready for this truth?

You really can have it all.

Each day, we are juggling so many things and we can feel like there is just so much going on – like we are just going to have to pick and choose what we want to pursue. We’re juggling family schedules and that quality time at home. We’re juggling projects at work and meetings we have to organize. We’re juggling our friends and the social lives we are attempting to we keep up.

Oh, and I almost forgot ourselves…we’ve still got to make sure we can address our own hobbies – reading, blogging, exercising, building, growing, and all the other verbs we do because we love them.

What Yvonne had to say, and what I’m sure I’ll find in her and Molly’s book, is that you can totally tackle all of these things, you can have it all. The key is knowing that you won’t always be perfect and excellent at all of them, all at once. 

When we are at work, we work – and here’s the hard part – when we aren’t, we’ve got to set boundaries for ourselves. We’ve got to leave the office, or whatever other commitments we have, feeling proud of the day’s efforts, but ready to break for what other priorities we have – or just to simply give our minds a rest.

If this doesn’t apply necessarily to work for you, I think it really applies to other personal goals too. I’m definitely learning to apply it as I try to grow my blog. This blog brings my hobbies together. I want to give it everything I have and knock off my list of associated to-dos, but when I’m exhausted – letting myself watch a movie with Eric, or laying in bed a bit early to read, is so okay and so necessary.

Aside from our tasks, we’ve got to be good to ourselves by allowing us time to grow, explore, play, laugh, and learn by pursuing our passions. When we are with loved ones, we have to let ourselves be fully invested there, and putting the hundreds of pings and screens seeking our attention on hold. This time give us the energy to do all the other stuff.

Of course, there will be days when you do have to get back online after a dinner with friends or family, but the important thing is that we allow ourselves to enjoy those other parts of us in between it all, and not feel guilty.

In really busy seasons of life, it’s just going to take a bit more effort to allocating time for each – and most importantly, allocating time to relax. Instead of letting the feeling of not hitting everything on your plate at 100% slip in, we need to be proud of the moment’s victories, and know that we are crawling into bed with more opportunities that we will rock at tomorrow.

You can have it all. You just have to be easy on yourself and good to your soul while doing it.

Thanks to Yvonne for such a great talk that inspired some good reflection this week. Happy Weekend, everyone!