Too overwhelmed, exhausted, or overcommited to practic self-care?
Or worse, think you don’t deserve it?
If this seems all too familiar to you then keep reading for the tips for overcoming the limiting beliefs you need to be more intentional about stewarding your health!
Now you may be reading this and thinking, “How does she know my life?” Trust me you are not alone! In an independent study I found that nearly 68% of working moms feel guilty about spending the time to practice self-care and steward their health well!
I often fell into that category as well.
It was really easy for me to choose to clean, or to finish late night work over taking the time to steward my health, and as time went on, I found that my health started failing. I wasn’t able to run around with my baby like I wanted and far too often I found it easier to let the television be a baby sitter. My back was in shambles, my knees were laughable, and if I wasn’t wearing a brace on my wrist, well, I rarely chose that.
This post will encourage you to slow down and take account of the limiting beliefs that are keeping you from prioritizing rest in your busy schedule.
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Why is prioritizing rest so hard?
This world glorifies weariness. It encourages us to strive, to stay busy, to always be on the move. This leads us to spending countless years believing the lie that we are not worth the time it takes to take care of our health.
We prioritize literally EVERYTHING over stewarding the health blessings we receive from the Lord, and if we are honest. It shows!
So how do we get from a place of personal neglect to a place where we are embracing the importance our health and rest holds for ourselves and our family?
Well it all starts with a mindset shift and understanding the fact that we were created for rest, God Gave us the vision of Sabbath, and self-care is not selfish!
This is SUCH a significant transformation!
We have to let go of the feelings of guilt, comparison, and perfectionism, and embrace the motherhood story we are authentically created for, and part of that is understanding that we need a break sometimes.
Limiting Beliefs that keep us in a cycle of busyness
I want you to also see this sort of mindset shift. I want you to be able to embrace the divine rest and the rhythm of rest and work that you were created for. Here’s the thing though, before you can fully walk through a life of more cultivated calm, you need to first understand the roadblocks to your cultivated calm journey!
Here are the five most common roadblocks and self-limiting mindsets that keep you overwhelmed, overcommited, and overworked.
Guilt
This is the guilt that tells you because you are a working mother, you already get time away from your children, and therefore, you do not need additional time to yourself.
This is a mindset that plays on the idea that as a working mom you should be able to work as if you do not have children and then do for your children as if you do not work.
Comparison
This comparison tells us that we haven’t earned the right to time to ourselves. Comparing ourselves to others is already a killer for most moms. Working moms see the lives of stay at home moms and covet it. Stay at home moms see the lives of those moms who are working and see that as a better way of life.
Here is the truth, mothering tiny humans is hard, regardless of how you do it. It takes energy, it is constantly thinking of the wellbeing and health of another individual, and you earned the right to time by becoming a mother.
Insecurity
We are constantly bombarded by ideals and standards that make “good mothering” this only adds to the insecurity in our mothering that comes the minute a child is placed in your care, whether by birth, adoption, marriage or otherwise.
This insecurity tells us that we do not deserve time to ourselves. Not true! This was probably the hardest for me to overcome because insecurity really digs at what you are already concerned about and makes true the stories you are already telling yourself.
Control
This limiting believe tells us that if we are not in control of everything that goes on in our home, then the world will end. Now, this is not true, because our homes are not our own. When we micromanage and try to control all that happens, we take the ability to be responsible out of the hands of those in our homes and we try to do what only God can in our lives.
We have to learn to let go of the control. To stop managing what we can’t and shouldn’t. This involves simplifying and slowing down. It also involves separating our worth from the things that happen in our home.
An un-mopped floor does not make you a failure.
Children that are not overbooked, does not make you a failure.
Making choices that benefit you and help you steward your health, does not make you a failure.
Unrealistic Expectations
So many of us have maintained these unrealistic expectations on self-care and rest for so long. We’ve continued these cycles because we don’t know how to parent without them.
I get it, I used to be the queen of unrealistic expectations and making sure that everything was done, fitting it all in, doing too much overbooking myself. I continued to run myself to empty because I believed that self-care needed to be super expensive and time consuming.
Keep in mind though, that once you get into this cycle of overworking and overbooking yourself, it is hard to break out of it. It took me a long time to realize that I was running myself ragged, jeopardizing my health and well-being all for the sake of “doing enough”
Self-care cannot be an afterthought.
The important thing to understand with each of these limiting beliefs is that they are not true representation of God’s intention for rest in your life, and therefore should not shape your present or future actions.
Learn God’s intention for Time Stewardship
Embrace a rhythm of working and resting and get more done! Take our Purposeful Productivity Challenge and find more time for the daily tasks that matter and quickly begin creating routines that prioritize rest.
Overcoming these Self-limiting beliefs on rest and stewarding health
As a working mom, I’m pretty much guilty of all 5 of these limiting beliefs at any given point. But In recognizing them, I have been able to create a road that takes me from the story that these beliefs have me believing to the truth that is rooted in the idea that God created me not to strive but to walk in a rhythm of work and rest.
Now, lets look at some ways in which we can recognize the limiting beliefs that we may be consciously or unconsciously believing about ourselves.
First you want to determine if the belief lines up with the way you are treating yourself. You can do this by asking yourself, “Does this belief line up with how I live my life? Do I believe it is true, or is it a lie?” This may look like doing things that prove the story you are telling yourself to be true.
The second thing to determine in order to recognize limiting beliefs is how you react to others in regards to that thought. This may look like bitterness or frustration for someone doing something that a limiting belief is keeping you from achieving. (read frustration with your spouse as he opts to go to the gym EVERY night).
The last thing you need to do to recognize limiting beliefs that may be keeping you from really embracing a rest mindset is to take time to listen (first to internal voice, and the story it is telling you, and secondly to the holy spirit and the truth of Sabbath rest).
When we walk in these limiting beliefs that keep us busy, we are walking out of alignment of the rhythm of working and resting that God created us for. We sacrifice the peace that we can get in being consistent in our pursuit of resting in the Lord.
The key to work-life balance
God created you for a rhythm of working and rest. You are not meant to be constantly busy and striving. This hustle way of living only leads to more stress and eventual burnout.
Embrace practical minimalist mindsets that encourage us to slow down and prioritize stewarding our health by prioritizing sleep, being present with people around us, making time for hobbies outside of work, spending quality time with family members – all while still getting things done! Order your copy of Finding Time today so we can help you get started building habits towards sustainable time management. Your body will thank you later.