Sometimes, life takes over. Sometimes, it feels as though there aren’t enough hours in the day to complete the tasks that need to be completed. Sometimes, it feels as though there is just no time to stop and breathe. Sometimes, love gets put on the back burner so some frustration-filled tedious and unimportant task can take center stage. Sometimes, to be able to get through life, I have to take a moment and just breathe so that life can happen with more fluidity. Sometimes, I need to take time to make myself healthy and bring love back into focus. I have to learn to love myself and be confident in myself to be able to accomplish what I need to. If I am able to get myself back on the right path and learn to love me, then not only will I be able to get through the days with more ease, but I will also have the ability to put my focus on helping others.
Thich Nhat Hanh once said, “Love is the capacity to take care, to protect, to nourish. If you are not capable of generating that kind of energy toward yourself – if you are not capable of taking care of yourself, of nourishing yourself, of protecting yourself – it is very difficult to take care of another person.”
I am notorious for spreading myself too thin. I always try to help others and do what I can in my power to make other people happy. After a while, though, it gets tiring. It makes me feel weak. It wears me down to a point where I can no longer function to be able to properly take care of myself. I’ve been learning on this journey that, while it’s good to help and love others, I have to have that healthy and solid foundation to be able to do so properly. If I can’t keep myself nourished, how could I possibly nourish someone else? I have to love and take care of myself first.
If I don’t know how to take care of myself, how could I take care of others? If I constantly feel exhausted, if I put too many tasks on my plate, if I become a ‘yes’ woman, what good does that really do? If I constantly feel exhausted, I just wear myself down physically and mentally. If I take on too many tasks and responsibilities, I can’t accomplish those tasks to the best of my ability. If I allow daily life to take control, I’m not allowing myself to heal properly, my journey does not move forward in the right direction and my story becomes stagnant. In order to stop this from happening, sometimes I have to just stop what I’m doing and breathe.
Since starting this journey, I’ve been taking yoga classes twice per week. The greatest benefit I have from those classes is breathing. There’s a big focus on having a proper breathing pattern and keeping a steady breath. For those two hour-long sessions per week, I am able to let go of any worries or obligations I may have, focus on myself, and focus on breathing it all out (while also maneuvering my body into positions I sometimes don’t think are possible, but that’s beside the point). There are many benefits to deep breathing: Breathing detoxifies and releases toxins, brings mental clarity, releases tension, relieves pain, increases muscle, strengthens the immune system, improves posture, improves blood quality, aids in digestion, improves the nervous system, strengthens the heart, improves cellular regeneration, and the list goes on and on. Breathing can do so much for the mind and body…maybe that’s why God made it a necessity of life.
So, after all of those random words that you just read that probably don’t make sense, what I’m saying is this. When life feels like it’s getting out of hand, breathe. Love yourself, take care of yourself, and breathe. Take 5 minutes, lock yourself in a bedroom, bathroom, your car in the grocery store parking lot, or someplace where you can escape from life for a couple minutes, and just embrace the quiet and focus on your breath. Breathe deeply, calmly, breathe with purpose. You’re breathing because you’re alive. And you’re alive because you were put on this earth with a purpose. So breathe, regroup, and face the world head on so you can fulfill that purpose in the best way you can.
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