My goal in 2015 was to finally figure out meditation that everybody in the self-help books was talking about (and I’ve read ALL of them!). I started 21-day challenge after challenge and never made it past day 3. I tried this app and that app, but it just never clicked. It was almost 2017 when I finally figured it out, and meditation has since been a part of my daily practice.
(Side note: Can you imagine what your life would be like in 3 years from now if you started meditating daily?)
Now this is what got me into meditation, after all the trying and error-ing: we have two very important nervous systems.
1 - The Sympathetic Nervous System
The sympathetic nervous system is active when we’re alert, working, stressed. It’s what sends adrenaline and cortisol (stress hormone) through our blood, and we’re always ready to defend ourselves if anything happened. This is also called the „fight or flight mode“. Imagine a lion showed up in front of you: you’d be ready for fight or flight.
Now there are no lion here, but imagine your boss (aka lion) hands you a huge task to finish in an unrealistic time > fight or flight.
2 - The Parasympathetic Nervous System
The parasympathetic nervous system gets us into „rest and digest mode“. It gets activated when we rest and sleep. It slows down all the systems in the body, so it can recover, repair, recharge to be ready for life again the next day. Meditation activates this nervous system also.
If you’re a stressed workaholic, don’t sleep enough, don’t eat well, barely workout, your body cannot get into „rest and digest mode“. Which basically means that you are under consistent stress, and your body doesn’t ever recharge.
Therefore, if you don’t give your body a break… it will make sure you take a break by giving you burnout symptoms, and it will force you to stay in bed.
Meditation is just one of the tools I’m teaching my students in Perfectionist Rehab to help you proactively and consciously activate your parasympathetic nervous system every day. We’re not supposed to have a work/work balance, are we?!
WANT MORE TIPS FOR BUSY LEADERS? GET YOUR FREE SELF-CARE GUIDE
3 Tips for High Achieving Perfectionists Who Are Ready to Remove Overwhelm and Work Less
...WITHOUT COMPROMISING RESULTS AND BURNING YOURSELF OUT
I created a free self-care guide if you’re someone who always puts everyone else - especially work! - first and needs some tips for perfectionists to slow down again! Click the button below to download your self-care guide for free:
