The Importance of Rest During Your Period

The Importance of Rest During Your Period

The Importance of Rest During Your Period

Understanding the role your period plays in your energy levels and your ability to function might be new to you, but trust me it’s something you want to start taking more notice of. 

I think by now most of us know that getting 7-8 hours of sleep a night and eating a healthy balanced diet has a massive impact on how we feel and how we perform. There is an additional level to this. Your period. And if you don’t take the time during the first few days of your period to rest, recharge and reset, you are potentially affecting your performance for the rest of the month.

As entrepreneurs we have a tendency to think we need to constantly be taking action everyday to move our business forward. One of the biggest challenges is actually allowing and permitting ourselves to take time out. Our ego has this irritating habit of telling us ‘you are lazy’ and that you will somehow ‘fall behind’ if you don’t constantly work. Stop feeling guilty for taking time off, because here is the truth – living in tune with your menstrual cycle will actually make you more efficient and more productive, not less. Start rewriting that story everytime it pops up: rest does not = lazy. It is just a story, you get to choose if it becomes your reality. It’s one I am constantly working on.

Being permanently switched on rather than tuned in to your body and its natural flow, will inevitably lead to burnout at some stage. Now that is a place none of us want to end up. If you are resisting taking time off and resting, instead ask yourself ‘what absolutely needs to get done today?’. If you don’t have any urgent work to attend to, no harm is going to come if you have a digital detox for a few days. The world isn’t going to end and your business isn’t going to suffer, believe it or not!

Giving yourself the time and space to rest during your period takes practice and discipline. You may not always get it right, but that’s ok. Take time to surrender yourself in your inner winter and remerge in your inner spring, ready to take on the world with fresh energy and an abundance of new ideas.

Our ego has this irritating habit of telling us ‘you are lazy’ and that you will somehow ‘fall behind’ if you don’t constantly work. Stop feeling guilty for taking time off, because here is the truth – living in tune with your menstrual cycle will actually make you more efficient and more productive, not less.

How do you carve time out of being a busy mother or business owner?

Prioritise your Period in your calendar

If you track your cycle, you probably already know the date of your next period. Make sure you go and put it in your calendar, so you can start to create space for yourself to rest. Definitely don’t plan to see any clients during this time, especially for the first few days. 

If you don’t already track your cycle, it’s time to learn. For some of us tracking our cycle can be a bit of a challenge, some of us have cycles that vary by a few days each month. Others of us have irregular periods, which can make things even more challenging. Whatever your personal period situation, now is a great time to get to grips with your cycle. To do this, I would suggest looking at the Fertility Awareness Method (FAM) – which looks at tracking the changes in your cervical fluid and your basal body temperature (BBT) daily. I also highly recommend reading “Taking Charge of Your Fertility” by Toni Weschler. This book is a complete game changer, it literally taught me so much about my body and enabled me to get pregnant.

I love knowing where I am in my cycle. It’s such an empowering experience and an amazing tool to have. If you suffer from irregular cycles, it really is a fantastic as it enables you to stop guessing when your period is due. It can also help to identify any health issue you may be experiencing too, hence why your menstrual cycle is often referred to as your 5th vital sign. 

Create Space For Yourself

As a business owner and entrepreneur you already have the luxury of being able to create your own work schedule. Bonus! So why not start blocking off 2-3 days at the beginning of your period, don’t schedule in client meetings or non negotiable deadlines. I would also suggest you create a bit of a buffer either side so you have enough space to reshuffle your schedule to accommodate when your period does actually arrive.

We are so conditioned with putting everyone else’s needs first and forgetting our own, but the reality is you can’t pour from an empty cup. It’s a bit like the oxygen mask situation on planes, if you don’t put yours on first, you can’t help anyone else. So stop saying yes to everything and adding more to your schedule. This is the time when you need to practice saying no to anything that is not absolutely necessary (reschedule it to another time in your cycle if you can). 

Here are a few other ways you can lessen your load during your inner Autumn and inner Winter phase: order your groceries online, batch cook your meals, say no to that dinner, skip the gym and opt for sleep instead, organise a playdate for your children, reschedule your coffee catch up to the following week, you could even get a cleaner just for this phase of the cycle! Be brave, find the courage to put yourself before others and take this time to ask for what you need instead. It’s hard I know, I am terrible at looking after myself.

Rome wasn’t built in a day. Start small.

If you can’t take an entire day out of your schedule for self care due to work or life commitments, or you find the idea puzzling, it’s ok. Take a moment to consider what your self-care would look like if time or space was not an issue. Start with what feels achievable right now. 

Ask yourself – what can I do right now meet my needs? How can I put myself first?

Could you go to bed early? Could you switch your phone off? Could you take 5 minutes a day to meditate, instead of scrolling through Facebook? What about asking your husband, wife or partner to take the children out for an hour, so you get an extra bit of breathing space and some time to yourself to recharge?

The thing about self-care is this, the more you practice it, the more you make it a habit and part of your routine. The more it becomes part of your routine, the easier it will be to take a few days of rest without feeling guilty.

Stop letting your ego rule you. From rest comes growth and if you really want to bring your A game to your business you need to start taking time back for YOU.

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The Importance of Self-Care For Busy Business Owners

The Importance of Self-Care For Busy Business Owners

The Importance of Self-Care For Busy Business Owners

Right, so who is prepared to hold their hands up and admit that you come at the bottom of your own priority list? I think this is even more so the case if you happen to be a mother as well as an entrepreneur.

When tend to be all systems go, all of the time, running around focusing on everything else, rarely taking time for ourselves. But does this really affect our ability to run our businesses well?

ABSOLUTELY.

A number analogies spring to mind right now, but the best one has to be….“Put Your Oxygen Mask On First”. This isn’t a nice to have option, its an instruction because you are no good to anyone else if you are dead! If you don’t take care of yourself, you can’t take care of your business or if you are a mother, you can’t be the best mum you want to be. Stress, resentment and overwhelm begin to creep in when you are doing #allthethings.

Take a moment to have a think about the last time you took care of YOU.

When you think of self care what springs to mind? A day at the spa? A manicure? A weekend away? A yoga retreat? Whatever your definition of self care is, remember that it is doing something that refuels us, something that makes us happy. Not something that makes us unhappy. But how the hell do you make time for some down time, when you are just so busy and  when there is so much going on?

Set clear boundaries

If you are like many and a bit of a people pleaser, you may find setting boundaries far more difficult than those who aren’t. Some of us are actually recovering people pleasers, but we’ve usually be put in a situation where enough was enough and we’ve finally taken action. Wherever you fall into in the people pleasing camp, know that you really need to put your big girl pants on or alternatively grow a pair of balls (men are so much better in general at setting boundaries) and learn to say no (of course, with a polite thank you thrown in too), a lot more often than you probably are.

Only say yes to the things and people that are important to you, the things that light you up, the people that light you up. And start saying no to the other stuff.

By saying no more a lot more, you will soon find that you have more time to focus on the important things, get more shit done and have a lot more time for you as well.

Schedule time in each week

The key is to schedule in non-negotiable ME time each week. Mark it as an appointment in your diary, like a client meeting, and don’t let anything get in the way of some YOU time. It’s important, because you can’t bring your A-Game if you are running around on half empty, tired and heading for burnout.

Self Discipline

I know its tempting to keep working until the early hours of the morning, just to put the finishing touches on that eBook, new online course or changes to your website. Trust me I have been there, but you need to learn to switch off and step away. Although hard to begin with, you will actually find that you end up being more productive because you don’t have as many distractions.

Here’s a little confession, I am actually contemplating taking social media apps off my phone and having them on my tablet instead. So it forces me to step away and switch off, and when I wake up in the middle of the night I am not tempted to go hand out on FB, Instagram or Pinterest.

Outsource as much as you can

The one thing I hate more than anything is cleaning. It takes forever and bores me to tears, mainly because I struggle to finish the task as I get distracted by something else!! (Did I mention that I’m an aquarius, a creative and get distracted by starting the next new project before finishing the current one I a working on, it’s a never ending challenge, but that is a whole other story).

Make a list of the things you really don’t enjoy doing, business and personal and if funds permit, hire people to take over these tasks to free you up. Don’t waste your time doing things you hate, life is just too short and there are too many people to serve.

If you are struggling with setting boundaries in your business and your life, you can sign up for the PROTECT YOUR ENERGY WITH BOUNDARIES email series here. And as a BONUS For a limited time only, you can also get access to the HOW TO PROTECT YOUR ENERGY WITH BOUNDARIES WORKBOOK for busy female entrepreneurs by signing up.