Hiding

Hiding In Plain Sight

Despite the undercurrent of societal messaging and the familial proclamations to be the Best, the Most, Do More, and Be More, we don’t always realize what we are building. We are given objectives and we get it done. We establish goals and we crush them. We take on roles personally and professionally and start the cyclical running in each of these areas. Some of us add on to that with community contributions. 

There are moments in our lives where we are running low on physical, mental and emotional energy. We hit a wall and then something happens. We choose. We either choose to take a look around and see how we got there or we get up and go at again. No questions asked, head down and push forward. Capacity comes knocking to remind us of our humanity. In no way can we let the balls drop. We can’t let anyone down. So we take a couple of quick inhales. Enough to get through the next project, the next dinner, the next crisis, but did we really breathe? We’re consistently taking more on while hiding behind the illusion that everything is okay because you are “good” at what you do.

Taking a Dynamic Pause to profoundly pause with intention and allowing yourself to breathe is ideal right about now. It’s bigger than taking a vacation. It’s more than treating yourself to a self-care moment or spending time with a friend. As adults we often wish we could get back all the naps that we fought not to take as children, but pausing to breathe is even bigger than that. 

Though many of us can benefit from taking this moment, I’m speaking to those who already are coming up with reasons why this can’t be done. I can hear you thinking it right now. You are telling yourself that you don’t have time to slow down or stop. You are convincing yourself that what you have done up until now has worked so why change? Your measurement of success has been based on all that you do, have done and will do. All the more, if it’s getting done at a feverish pace. In your workplace you are a standout who catches the projects sometimes by job description and sometimes by proximity. Your counterparts and supervisors might even sleep better knowing you are on top of it all. 

What you may learn is that all of the running, all of the activity is a hideout. Much like the kind of hiding spot that was almost too good because the search is called off and they’ve given up on looking for you at all.