day three hundred and eleven, originally uploaded by Allyson Kalie, found via kind over matter.

I’m writing this post because I’ve been challenged to. Challenged to put myself first, to practice what I preach, to hold myself accountable, to be driven by the accolades & enthusiasm of my readers (hint, hint), and to hope to give everyone in Internetland a first-hand account of starting something that scares you.

No, we’re not talking about vampires, monsters, upside-down roller coasters, or The Dark. We’re talking about Me Time.

“What’s scary about Me Time, weirdo?”, you’re probably wondering right about now, as Me Time is definitely not as scary as vampires upside-down roller coasters (although Luke thinks I’m wrong on the latter). For me, it’s partly The Fear of Stopping, partly The Fear of Not Getting It Done, partly The Fear of Not Being All Things To All People. It’s ridiculous, but I’ve been dreaming of a bubble bath for 3 weeks. 3. Effing. Weeks. And not once have I gotten in the tub. Why? Because I needed to make phone calls. Because I needed to make photo albums for my family from the wedding. Because I needed to clean the kitchen/living room/bedroom (Luke cleans the bathroom, bless him). Because I needed to update my blog. Because I needed to write my newsletter. Because I needed to not be tired for my coaching session in 90 minutes. Because I needed to…see where this is going?

As a life coach who is big – huge, even – on celebration, I don’t practice what I preach. Not to say that I don’t have intentions to celebrate, or take a mere 30 min to soak in the tub. I do. Great intentions, actually. And sometimes, it so happens. It does! But not always. Because, sometimes, there are Things That Need To Get Done.

But here I am, worried about burnout from my 40-hr/wk day job, the 5 clients I’m coaching this summer, & the 3 group coaching sessions I’m starting as early as next week (eek!). And while the coaching keeps me going & makes me so very happy, it’s a whole damn lot on my plate all at once.

So, in talking to my coach this week, I realized that The Fear of Burnout/Overload/Making Something that Makes Me Happy & Having It Make Me Unhappy was really real. And the light underneath the surface that was glittering & shining below me was self-care. I need to treat Me Time as if it’s an appointment. Wait, that’s not even good enough. I need to treat Me Time as if it’s a client session. Because those are sacred to me.

My Me Time will come on Sunday mornings, when I make myself wake up “early” (read: between 9:30-10a, as opposed to noon on Saturdays because I’m a 16-year-old trapped in the body of someone twice her ago) so I can go to bed at a half-decent time & be fresh for the week. For a minimum of 90 minutes, & a maximum of 3 hours, I’ll keep my phone off, stay away from the computer (two EXTREMELY scary thing), and do whatever I want to recharge my batteries & feed my soul. Whether it’s running in the park with Luke, reading the Times while listening to music, doing my yoga tape, wrecking my journal or soaking in a bath – it’s all OK. Not only is it OK – it’s necessary.

I’ll keep you guys posted on the process, because I feel like the first month’s gonna be especially hard. So please offer your comments, your encouragement, your suggestions and your experiences. Extra points to those that start something scary this week, too (if you let me know about it, I’ll so link to you on my future posts).

I’m looking forward/scared out of my mind at not being Superwoman & “just” be Michelle for a mere 90-180 minutes/week.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009 at 11:05 am and is filed under Happy Hooplah. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.