Arianna Huffington has called for a 3rd women's revolution. Women need to reclaim their lives because burn out is no longer an option. Success is no longer just about the money and power, it now includes wellbeing too.
As an alternative health expert the wellbeing thing I know about, I work with it, I teach it, and I believe I am pretty hot on walking my talk. But here's the problem. A year ago my business partner Laura Knowles and I expanded our business. We franchised out our brand Balanced Wellness and are in the process of opening a wellness centre so time has been a luxury I haven't had for the past 12 months and I have literally run myself ragged.
Sure, structures have been put into place, I've chosen the right food, I've supplemented and I've exercised however things like yoga, meditating and "just being"have totally fallen off my schedules. It's just not been possible. So how can we really achieve it?
Women have for many years been struggling with the juggling act of having it all, and by all I mean a career, a family, a relationship and a social life. But is that really possible or will we always spread ourselves too thin? And what do we mean by wellbeing?
For me that means diet, exercise, regular therapies like kinesiology and massage, making sure my outlook is positive and I don't store my negative emotions but get them in the open. But wellbeing is also something else, something more esoteric and that's the crux because in my experience that needs time. Time to laugh, time to dance, time to look at a nice view or just "be" and potter around doing little things like arranging flowers in a vase or creating a delicious dinner with some time spaciousness not something thrown together in a panic.
My intent is always there. When I wake up I often think about meditating but just dragging myself out of bed is the hardest part of my practice. When I'm exhausted a lie in (even for just 15 minutes) is a luxury or I'll try to limit my exposure to work but I sit at the PC and the next thing I know it's 3 hours later and I can feel myself sucked in and on the tread mill.
The third metric is vital, I agree wholeheartedly and good goddess do I wanna be one of those "up at dawn doing yoga followed by a green juice before skipping to my office" type of women but in reality I'm a "drag my butt out of bed, put the clothes on I left on the floor last night, grab a protein shake, do the school run and roll into my office feeling stressed already" kind of women. So how do we change this without putting more pressure on ourselves?
In this day and age of being surrounded by our technology how do we really switch off? Is it as simple as being really clear with ourselves and others about our boundaries? Managing people's expectations that stuff won't happen now but being really clear about when? Direct communication is one of the great attributes of the sacred feminine so surely if anyone can make that revolution happen its women?
It would be a step towards it and making it happen will take daily discipline and setting wellbeing as a goal for the day. This can take a lot of practice and knowing how to say "no" plays an important role. If we want to change the parameters of success and allow ourselves to have a life and wellbeing as well as money and power the seed of change has to start now.
I agree Arianna, there is another way to do it and whilst I may slip up on the way, I'm in. And to prove it I'm going off for lunch with my family.