Are you running a sprint or a marathon?

Entrepreneur culture is ripe with the message that you SHOULD hustle, slay, kill it, do all the things RIGHT NOW, or you will fail. 

We know that if we try and do ALL the things for ALL the people, it is a recipe for BURN out.

Why would we think that work in the time of Coronavirus would be any different? 

I know at first, for me, it felt different. My clients all needed additional meetings and support. Some of them were called to create new offers, and others just wanted the familiar touchstone of knowing we are in this #together. 

I have worked to expand my mental and physical capacity over the past year. I COULD support all of my clients without straining my systems, or so I believed. 

What I didn’t take into account was that the ways in which I support myself have all evaporated.

There are fewer ways to renew my energy—no massages, no housecleaners, no lunch dates, no trips to the farmer’s market, no bookstore rambles—yet, I am expecting myself to do MORE with less.

Last weekend a wave of exhaustion came over me. I had to lay down, immediately. My body gave me no choice other than to pause.

It was then I recognized  that I had done what I help my clients to avoid in their own businesses—I pushed myself beyond my capacity.

I had spent three weeks giving my clients permission to pause, to put their own oxygen masks on, and had forgotten to put on my own. 

It is hard to REMEMBER when we are in the midst of the chaos that it is okay to slow down and to connect with our needs. 

In case you need to hear it:

You have PERMISSION to pace yourself, to slow down, to take a moment (or three) to figure out how you want to navigate your new normal.

You don’t need to do it alone. But you do need to do it if you want to keep going. We are running an ultramarathon, not a sprint.