Shut It or Open It, All the Way

Picture this: you’re headed to work and when you go to turn on your car, it won’t start.

Naturally, you panic for a minute. (Or, minutes…) Then you scramble to problem-solve how to a) get to work as soon as possible and b) communicate this incident with your employer, so hopefully you don’t get fired. As dialed up on stress as you are at this time, it’s immediately after these things have been handled that you’re suddenly able to notice why this has happened after all: your trunk door was left ajar. A light was on all night. Your battery is dead.

Here’s the deal. Whether or not you can relate to or empathize with this scenario, I’d like for you to consider it as an analogy for headspace.

If you’ve ever sat down to complete a task, start a project, or have a conversation, and felt completely and utterly fried, I’d urge you to take inventory of all the opened tabs you’re accruing in your life – literally and metaphorically. Are you open to fielding messages and taking calls nearly every waking minute of every day? Are you frequently tending to multiple to-do’s on your to-do list at the same time? Are you answering emails and DMs in between sets while training?

Um. Maybe stop doing those things. (Or at least, as often…)

Between the hustle of accomplishing and connecting with as much as you possibly can each day, and the existential cop-out of “Why bother? It won’t be perfect anyway, so I’m not even gonna start,” I strongly urge you to double down on the things you’re willing to give your full attention to, and shut the door completely – at least temporarily – on everything else.

Two take-home thoughts:

1.Burnout isn’t a coincidence

2.Boundaries are beautiful