Slow down

My prevailing emotion at this moment is exhaustion. Work’s been busy, this blog has finally come alive (after a long hiatus), HR Bandit continues to be my favorite child, I’ve kick-started work on a second podcast and am working on two other ideas that are still too nascent to share. All of this on top of the daily rigmarole of social obligations and keeping up with life in general. While they’re all amazing things that I am extremely thankful for, the exhaustion has also made me increasingly disagreeable and impatient. It’s taking every ounce of me to not snap at everyone intend on getting in my way instead of helping. & that is not good.

I am now officially ready for a break. However, I am also aware that this run, break, run technique is going to eventually get pale and I must find an alternate. As I sat back to determine my challenge for the month, my first reaction told me that the last thing I needed was another challenge. What I really needed was to ‘slow down’. Yet, if the last three months are anything to go by, that in itself is a challenge for me. There is just so much I want to get done this year and there isn’t enough time. After two years of taking it slow, I found myself back on the hamster wheel. Where is the elusive equilibrium, the balance, everyone keeps referring to?

My challenge for April is this – slow down until I find the sweet spot. I don’t have to achieve something everyday or spend hours stressing over the next task. It’s OK to have lazy days and there’s no excuse to justify flying off the handle or being impatient with others.

Per usual, my challenge to myself is my challenge to you and this month, it’s just two words – slow down. And if you feel like life’s been going a little too slowly, maybe pick up the pace a little. April is the month where we finally achieve elusive equilibrium. How does that sound?

Before we embark on a new challenge, let’s recap how I fared with the last few. I found my person to meet but amidst crazy schedules, falling sick and tentative dates we haven’t met yet but it’s on the schedule. I am still struggling with self-promotion Mondays. I have a feeling I should pick another day of the week, and I continue to try and fail at various things. It’s not been the perfect run but the challenges have kept me invigorated.

Before you hop off this page, do share: Did you take the March challenge? Did you meet anyone new?

More importantly – Are you joining me for the April challenge? Let me know in the comments below (I’m not losing hope).