FINDING BALANCE

All right, so we haven't had our tea time sessions for a couple of weeks now. I think it's time for an update. All right, so a lot of you have been asking if Tea Time Tuesdays are still happening, and yes, of course! We've only just started this series. There's been like two episodes so far, so it's definitely still happening. I just thought I would let you know, though, that Tea Time Tuesdays aren't going to be every single Tuesday. I'll make them as often as I can, but I also still want to kind of create the usual Pick Up Limes style videos. So it's just going to be a surprise each week as to which type of video it's going to be. And another update. Robin and I just got back yesterday, actually, from our trip to Japan. We were there for just under three weeks. It was an awesome, awesome experience, but I decided this particular trip that I wasn't going to vlog any of it because I just kind of wanted to soak in the experience and separate my holiday from my working life for a little bit. But I'll be honest, doing that wasn't very easy. For those of you who are following on Instagram, you know that at the least I just shared some Instagram stories with you guys. Something you guys might not know about me is that I've tended to be a bit of a workaholic in the past. It's something I'm still working on to improve, but I thought in this video we could chat a little bit about creating a work-life balance. Even if you're the furthest thing from being a workaholic, you've probably at some point in your life experienced the pressures of work or studies, and I know that that's something that definitely happened to me when I was a student and again when I was working as a dietician. And I promised myself that when I started my own business it wouldn't be that way, but realistically I work on Pick Up Limes more than I would admit to anybody. And so I guess I understand that struggle to find balance. I mean, doing the kind of work that I do, it's really hard to not want to photograph and film absolutely everything. And I think there's a beauty to that because it helps me in some ways to be in the present moment, but sometimes it can also zap me out of it. I think a lot of the times we convince ourselves that we don't have the time for self-care. We're stuck in this go-go-go mentality and time is a precious commodity, right? So it's better spent if, you know, we're working on something or studying something. And I think it's important to have a good work ethic and a good study ethic, but at the same time I think it can really set us back in so many ways. I think productivity and efficiency is short-lived if you're not taking the time to find balance and to recharge a little bit. And I think that our approach to balance should be done in a balanced way. So what I mean is that it's, you know, realistic and realizing that the small things matter too. It doesn't have to be a huge upheaval in the way that we live our lives. So even though I've given the example of having gone on a trip as my break, I mean, that doesn't have to be it at all. It can be something like taking the time to do some physical activity or to create a wholesome healthy meal for yourself or to journal something, to go for a walk, to spend time with your loved ones, to work on your creative outlet. I mean, heck, even planning for a trip. That's not going to happen for three or five years from now because we all know that planning for a trip is half the fun, right? And usually I find that in those moments where I take a break, I go for a walk, I journal, I talk with a friend about something totally unrelated. Those are the moments where I have these certain ideas pop into my head that really inspire me. They came out of nowhere. Or, you know, I find certain solutions to problems that have been bogging me down for a little while. And I think what can happen sometimes is that I or we try to have so much control over our conscious minds that we don't give our subconscious mind the opportunity to surprise us or intrigue us with its insights as well. So it's like a win-win-win-win all around if you think about it, right? You're taking the time to recharge. That's adding to your feel-good vibes. When you return to work or your studies, you're feeling renewed. So that means you're going to probably increase your productivity a fair bit. And then there's also a chance that you might kind of return to your work with some new inspiration or new ways that you can improve the way that you work or that you study. Now, there is an analogy I really love. It's from the book, The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People. And in this particular book, the author mentions that one of the habits of successful people is they take the time for self-care. He calls it sharpening the saw. And so essentially what he's saying is that if you're a lumberjack cutting down a whole bunch of trees, you're going to eventually be very ineffective at your job if you don't take the time to stop and sharpen your saw. Otherwise, it's just going to get dull. And I love that analogy because it makes sense, right? And we do the same thing with our laptops and with our phones. We take the time to charge those every so often. So how come we're not doing the same for ourselves? So if like me, you can kind of sometimes get stuck in a little cycle of working away at something and you feel like, no, I can't break away from this because I don't have the time. Here's something that might help you give yourself permission to take that break. It's something that definitely helps me. And it's the rocking chair exercise. You might have heard of this one before. So what I try to do is I imagine myself being an old lady, kind of enjoying her final years, sitting on a rocking chair. And when I'm looking back at my younger life, what am I going to wish that I did more of? And what am I going to wish that I did less of? Because chances are, I'm going to wish that I didn't stress so much, that I didn't put so much pressure on myself or sweat the small stuff and wish I'd just given myself a break, some time to find balance, to relax and to enjoy life a little bit more. So I fully recognize that in this video, I haven't shared anything super transformative and new. I mean, we all know that finding a work-life balance is really important. But I think that sometimes we can use the little reminder. Now, are you somebody who is a workaholic or do you have the totally opposite problem when it comes to your work or school life? Let me know by sharing in the comments. If you feel like you're somebody though, who needs a little bit more balance in your life, let me know too by giving the video a thumbs up or just give the video a thumbs up anyway, because it always means a lot when you do. And thank you for taking the time to enjoy this tea with me. Looking forward to our next session. Until then, have an awesome week.