R&R is a necessity!

What I love about my current career is that I get to work out. I get to help people reach their goals. I get to help kids develop a lifelong love of fitness. I get to meet really cool people like Jillian Mull and I get to learn from and get coached by greats like Donny Shankle. It's so exciting to learn and grow and ever day has something amazing happen!

The downside of this is that I know my body. I know I need 8 to 10 hours of sleep every night or else I'm cranky, I'm weak and I want to eat everything. But when you have all kinds of cool stuff going on in your life, sometimes it's hard to get that 8 to 10 hours.  The last time I got a good eight hours was about six days ago. So I was dragging yesterday, big-time. When I went to bed last night I was super excited because I had a window of being able to get a full 10 hours! I looked at my clock and it was 11 o'clock and I knew that if I got up at nine, I would have ten glorious hours knocked out! And I'd still have time to do everything on my to-do list before it was time to leave for the gym.

I only had a few things on my to-do list this morning which included sitting down and writing out the checks for this months bills, looking over my nutrition coaching athletes' weekly logs and studying for my nutrition certification. As I leisurely drank my coffee and ate my breakfast, I  watched Guy's Grocery Game. I did get up and write a few of the checks and I folded a load of laundry and then put a new load in. Then it was already time to get a shower and head to the gym! As I was walking through the living room, I expressed to Jeremy that I really didn't get anything done on my to-do list and I was frustrated. His response was great. 

He knows that I get easily overwhelmed and full of anxiety when I have too many things on my to-do list. He knows that I can't stand feeling like I'm behind on my tasks. He said, "Yes, but you slept for 10 hours. You recharged yourself and that, sometimes,  is more important than the to-do list." 

 I needed to hear that this morning and so do a lot of us because we feel like our "needs" list is not as important as the rest of the things we have to do. We all need rest, but we don't prioritize it. We run around all day, taxing our bodies mentally and physically and then neglect to recharge ourselves. Or if we do, we feel guilty and feel like we've wasted time. Folks, time spent resting is not a luxury, it's a necessity. 

How many hours of sleep do you need, honestly? Do you allow yourself that?

Stay strong y'all!