Getting Things Off My Chest: Pushing The Pause Button

This week was a milestone moment which had me going a mile a minute. Two back-to-back book launch events, several interviews, client appointments and writing deadlines nipping at my heels left me fearless, fabulous….and breathless. Dashing around the city from appointment to appointment in the searing late summer heat, playing catch-up to missed meetings and trying to remember names and faces of everyone I was seeing and thanking left me a bit foggy. 

And then I was reminded to Push the Pause Button.

 

I was reminded on September 11 when my friend Kevin, former wine director for Windows on the World, Tweeted from atop Mohonk Mountain to reflect on the dear friends and colleagues he lost that sorrowful sunny day 12 years ago. And again that night I paused to reflect when I saw the two beams of blue rising up from lower Manhattan into the clear dark sky.

 

I was reminded when two dear friends, Mary Jo and Alison, celebrated birthdays this week. I said to myself. “Treasure your friends.”

 

 

 

I was reminded barreling down the road in my red convertible when the sight of a field of sunflowers against the backdrop of the Shawangunk Mountains took my breath away. I stopped, turned the car and captured them with photos before they disappear into Fall.

 

 

I was reminded when my throat cracked and my body started to ache.  My inner self said, “Melanie, you are in overdrive and overloading. Stop. Pause. Reset.

 

 

I spoke at a seminar on Wednesday evening hosted by Les Dames d’Escoffer New York entitled “Women and Wellness: Be Fabulous at Any Age.” We talked about how women are more likely to take care of their loved ones before taking care of themselves. I confessed that when I faced my own breast cancer diagnosis in 2009  I realized I was better at minding my public relations business than minding the business of my health. I said,  “We all need to become CEOs of our bodies and mind our health as carefully as we mind everything else in our lives.”

 

Still we slip as Priority You takes a back seat to other tasks and to other peoples’ needs. Women are born nurturers but we need to learn to nurture and nourish ourselves. This includes what we eat, how we exercise and how we manage stress and keep our heads clear. It means learning to say  “Give me some time to address this properly.” and “Let’s take a short break:” and “I am overbooked. Let’s take a rain check.” It means getting away from the computer or whatever is monopolizing your time, taking a break and tuning in to what our bodies are telling us.

Think of your body as a hard drive. When you take on too much without a strong system in place to handle it you could become overloaded and crash. To reboot you need to delete, trash and clean up what is weighing the system down and making it run slow. You need to push Pause, Stop, Reset.

Even 10 minutes getting up, moving away from the screen, getting a drink of water, rolling your shoulders and stretching will make a difference. Ten minutes: Find them and use. It really won’t make a difference to anyone else but could make one for you.

 

 

 

 

 

On September 15, 2013   /   Life As We Know It