I’ve been having some fun over the last week or so. I haven’t been sleeping well. It started with my trying Peppermint Tea for IBS at 11pm without noticing that it’s “Revitalising”. Oops. At 3 am, I realised my mistake. Then I had a few nights in a row when I just couldn’t sleep, despite being utterly exhausted. I’m not sure why, I just lay awake, desperately trying to sleep.
If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ll know that to me, good sleep is one of the most important things in life. I am slightly fanatical about it. But there’s a reason. Sleep deprivation is terribly bad for you. It certainly is for me, anyway. If I don’t sleep, I can’t work as efficiently or effectively. I’m too damn tired. I make poor decisions because I’m tired – like chocolate biscuits and caffeine over yoga and dancing for energy.
If I don’t sleep, I’m a frigging grouch. One night of poor sleep I can cope with. By night 3, I become a bear with a sore arse. By night 5, psychosis and homicidal tendencies are kicking in. The quality of my sleep affects the quality of my life. Yours does too, but today I’m not (really) preaching about sleep. Well, I am, but that’s not (really) my main point.
You see, I got to thinking this week about how if your foundations are off, if the basics are off, everything will be off. If your basic needs aren’t being met; if your body, mind, heart and soul are crying out for nurture, your life will be harder than it needs to be. I know that I bang on about self-care a lot. There’s a good reason.
Whenever I speak to someone who is struggling with their life, their basic self-care is not good.
Whenever a client comes to me with an “insurmountable” problem, their self-care sucks. (and once their self-care improves, the problem becomes solvable)
Whenever I feel low, down, demotivated or discouraged, my basic needs are not being met.
But only 99% of the time.
We have a tendency to over-complicate things and ‘try harder’ when things aren’t working, when what we are more likely to need is space – to step back and check the basics are in place before we try anything else. 99% of the time, this is exactly what we need…but we do it probably 4% of the time. (and that’s a generous estimate).
This is not going to be a long article this week – because you already know what the basics are for you, even if you’ve never articulated them (and if you haven’t, now is a REALLY good time!), so your mission is simple: check the basics. Check that the main things that keep you sane and happy are being done, whatever they are.
For me, the top 3 are sleep, movement (yoga/dance/walking) and space to process (writing time, reading time, meditation). What are your top 3? The things you need most? The things that if you don’t get them, you are destabilised, you can’t give your best and life feels bloody hard (and you’re a bear with a sore arse).
Check them.
Get the basics right, and life is so much easier!
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