I read this post from Chris Wilson, and one part clicked for me:
On those wildly busy days, my ego tries to convince me that I don’t have time to stick to my keystone habits of hydration, elevation, meditation, and contemplation. And that’s my signal amongst the noise that it’s time to double down on the habits that “I don’t have time to do.”
When I worked at the Ann Arbor Film Festival I started a habit. I was the first one into the office each morning, so I took a few minutes to put together a quick meme to tape to the front door.
I called it the Physical Blog.
It set the tone for the day. Sometimes it was about pumping people up. Sometimes we needed a good laugh. Whatever it was, I was giving people something to look at each time they came through the door.
And then there was a point I just stopped doing it.
It wasn’t until it hadn’t showed up for a while that someone asked me why. And the realization came: I was feeling stressed about work, and decided I didn’t have time for this little fun thing at the start of the day.
But that was when I needed it the most.
It was a warning signal that other things were going to start falling through the cracks. Tunnel vision was setting in, and instead of prioritizing I was scrambling.
The things you do for yourself, be it making the bed, meditating, exercising, or posting dumb little jokes for your friends… When you cut those out, you’re acting like those things don’t matter.
That other things are more important.
Maybe it’s other people’s needs.
Maybe things you do to get paid.
Whatever it is, if it’s something that brings you joy and helps give you a little boost and feels like an important part of who you are…
Making sure those things get done asserts that you value yourself. It’s putting on your own mask first. Filling up your pitcher before you start pouring it out.
It’s something I’m working re-learning now.