Space: We've Only Got So Much of It

My teacher Gina said to me last week, "You only have so much space."

It was a light bulb moment for me. It's something I knew, and yet for some reason, I'd forgotten it. Her timing was perfect, as I was just coming into a very full week of teaching and leading the last full weekend of teacher training. I was very very full and trying to fill my already full container. It wasn't working. I felt ready to hit a breaking point. I needed a vacation. While I think vacations are important and wonderful, I am also seeing from this week that what I really needed was to create space! I stopped scheduling things back to back. I put some buffers in around my schedule. I set some super clear boundaries, a lot of them involving my phone. The more I put buffers in and set boundaries, the more space I freed up in myself. My head literally started to feel lighter. Less cluttered. Less congested. I stopped feeling like I was at the mercy of everyone else or at everyone's beck and call. I stopped feeling the urge to respond to everyone who texted me within 5 seconds. I let texts go for days, sometimes, especially this weekend during teacher training. It was so foreign for me, and also so wonderful.

I am not responsible for anyone's life but my own. I got super clear this week that I'd been taking responsibility not just for myself, but for everyone else. It was taking up a lot of space.

Space has allowed me to be more present in everything I'm doing, and also a heck of a lot more grateful. Without a crowded forehead, I've been able to see with new, fresh eyes, and experience people and things in my life with a new level of compassion.

We only have so much space. What are you filling your space with?

Consider that space can be filled with ANYTHING, and that phones are social media are a huge chunk of that. So are our daily responsibilities and tasks and the people in our lives. Are you over filling your space? How could you set some boundaries and clear space for yourself this week, so you free up your energy for the things that matter? Commit to making space this week no matter what, and see how it transforms you.