EP16: The Importance of Breathing - TRANSCRIPT

 Hi! You're listening to HIW and I'm your host, Hyba. Today, I want to talk about the importance of breathing, by which I mean the importance of taking time off from your work, whatever that may be, even if you love it. As you know, I'm coming off of a hiatus myself, and I've learned over this time that you really just can't go full-steam-ahead every single hour of every single day, as much as you would like to!

My hiatus took maybe a week or two, but in reality, my creative well and motivation have been dried up for several weeks now, if not months, and I think this was primarily due to burnout. I have a lot of passion projects, and I love working on each and every one of them, but I tend to get a little too invested in projects and try to churn out as much work as possible in as short a time as possible. In other words, I become a total workaholic! This, as you can probably guess, is not healthy. So, while it's all well and good to give it your all and work hard on something that you love and really want to do, we all have to draw the line somewhere, or else we'll burn out before finishing our projects and end up dealing with the repercussions.

I've learned to draw the line at my health and needs. In other words, there are certain things we need to be able to do with our days, certain things we need to accomplish regardless of the work we want to complete. These can include basic needs, like feeding ourselves and making sure our personal hygiene is good, and they can also include other parts of our routines that we need to complete in order to have a healthy, balanced life - exercising, cleaning our homes, doing chores, spending time with family and friends, and also having some time to ourselves to relax and breathe.

You can't do everything in one day, of course - we only have 24 hours to work with, after all - but we can do the essentials, at the very least. I've been trying to get into a routine where I spend my day completing chores and taking care of myself and my surroundings, and only moving on to my passion projects later on in the evening. By the time I sit down to write, I feel very accomplished and happy with what I've done that day!

Of course, I'm not perfect. Trust me, I am far from it! I don't always get stuff done, and sometimes my sleep schedule gets so messed up that all those things I'm juggling become a chaotic jumble in my arms! There are days when I still spend all my energy doing nothing by writing or working on another passion project. But I do believe that recognizing the need to slow down and breathe is important, because I've noticed a change in myself these days. Every now and again, I'll stop and take a walk out in the sun, or I'll chat with friends some more, or I'll read a bit, or I'll take a break to do small tasks or chores around the house. I'm not 100% perfect, but changes don't happen suddenly and overnight, and these small differences in my habits are still extremely significant to me. They're steps in the right direction!

Lately, I've also realized that nature is such a healing presence. Just going out for a walk in the garden or getting some sunshine on my skin or taking a moment to give my cat a head rub can be therapeutic. It does wonders for you! And taking care of nature sort of takes that to another level. Taking up a routine which places you in a position where you are in the presence of nature but also interacting with it positively is important. Watering plants in your garden, feeding pets and animals, collecting fruits and herbs and vegetables - all this can boost your mood tremendously. We've gotten so digital and so heavily reliant on technology that we sometimes forget the importance of the nature around us!

So, as I wrap up this episode, I'd love to know: What do you do to keep yourselves from workaholic tendencies, and what has worked best to keep you centered and balanced in your daily routine so far?

Thanks so much for tuning in, and if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or requests, please let me know via my Tumblr or my Twitter! Until next time!