Lightbulbs and realisations

I spent my work day today at a Mental Health and Wellbeing workshop led by Canna Consulting.  Not being sure what to expect, but rather than being heavy duty, it was enjoyable and fun.

Far from being dismal and overwhelming - the workshop made me think, a lot.  About what we do, how we prioritise life ... and, basically, hammered home the fact that actually, we can all be pretty bad at putting ourselves first - because we live in a world that prioritises how we work, how much we're prepared to put ourselves out for others.  In short, we seem to have lost sight of understanding that we are equally as important as the others we are trying to help.  

The key thing that was repeated over and over again - talking.  The importance of talking to people about what's going on, how we're feeling ... not bottling things up and putting a brave face on it.  Things that will come naturally to some more than others.  But is that because we keep being told to just get on with things?  

But, my lightbulb went off when we were talking about listening to our bodies, our brains.  They know us best.  better than we think we know ourselves most of the time.  So maybe, just sometimes, we need to hide the clock and listen to what our bodies are telling us to do ... drink, eat, sleep ... and not just put it off 'because it's not time yet'.  

Should we care for and about others?  Definitely, yes.  There will be times when someone or something else HAS to come first ... baby feeds, school pick-up, getting back to the car before the ticket runs out, deadlines.  But for most things, we are in charge of how / when / where we do things.  Remembering that, and that we are able to change, to prioritise differently is what we need to re-learn in the midst of our modern frantic lives.