As a co-founder of a start-up, the grind is real. Always working putting out fires dealing with the ups and downs is the norm. We all have heard the quote “ most small businesses fail within the second year.” What’s not mentioned in these conversations is the root cause as to why they fail and it’s not just lack of money. It’s called insufficient self-care. Running on an empty tank is a quick way to kill your business. It’s impossible to sustain the demands of a thriving business for long periods of time without a self-care ritual.
It’s OK to Recharge.
Let me elaborate. You’re working non-stop, you’re stressed, not really sleeping at night and then boom the headache from hell sneaks up on you. All of a sudden your head is throbbing and your body is desperately crying for help. Yelling please recharge me, I am pushed to my limits and I need to be recharged. Somehow our values in society have been jaded and being a workaholic has become glamorized. When is fact overworking is a toxic trait if not balanced with self-care? I’m not saying working hard is bad. What I am expressing is when your body is starting to breakdown, your family is falling apart, and you’re miserable. To ignore reality and continue working to appease your ego, that’s toxic and could end in disaster. The same would be true if you ignored your check engine light on your car and kept driving without having an oil change for years. Even the most expensive car would eventually breakdown.
Listen to your body.
It’s easy to ignore the warning signs as it relates to our health. No one wants to be sick, stressed, or depressed. However, in order to maintain optimal health self-care is a must! Our intuition is a superpower once we learn to listen and trust ourselves. Your life and everything in it will improve drastically. You should not sacrifice yourself putting your health, happiness, and fun on the back burner. Our bodies were not designed to work 24/7 without fun, time spent with our loved ones and just time to recharge.As a businesswoman, I had to learn to slow down and listen to the clues of my body. If I start feeling sick, I don’t go hard the next day. In fact, I do the opposite and just relax. I suffered enough to finally listen and take action to allow myself some self-care time to recharge.
Self-Care is KEY!
Here’s what I observed and learned. I was suffering from anxiety from not listening to my inner voice overthinking & working. My lack of self-care was the root cause of my issues. I vowed to journal every morning and workout for one hour five days per week. Three months later, my life transformed. I’m in great shape, calm, and no more anxiety! Most importantly, I realized the happier I am everything else seems to work out. The way I approach work as a happy person tremendously shifted our company culture. As a team, we get twice as much work done in less time.
Originally published on https://thriveglobal.com.
