I am finding more ease and freedom with my early bedtime and quiet hours. I am also finding I am getting WAY more done (what I want to do and what others want me to do!) with the renewed energy.
But I didn’t put the boundary in place so I could “life-hack” my way to better productivity. Quite the contrary. It’s a benefit for sure but…
I would still want the boundary in place even IF I didn’t get this additional benefit of increased “productivity.” Intention matters.
Hustle culture still reigns though we know better. Do what you gotta do, pay your dues and do it now so you can enjoy the other things later. What Hustle Culture promotes isn’t all bad. Sometimes you do “gotta do what you gotta do.” Sometimes it is healthy and sane to work like crazy for something right now for a benefit later.
I just know I (and all my fellow humans) can take things to the extreme and it’s these extremes that make us unhealthy (and crazy.)
Instead of trying everyone else’s “life-hacks” though, we are actually all naturally given our own sets of rules that let us be the people we want to be. These are the things that usually annoy us, frustrate us and have us yearn to be someone other than who we really are. (ie: Me staying up until 11 pm and being miserable for months afterward.)
I want to fit in, I want to do the things, I want to be someone else.
But, if I follow my body, my personality and tendencies, suddenly everything that was difficult and arduous becomes easier and simpler. Sort of, of course. We do live in the world.
The more you are wired “against the grain or against whatever is popular and accepted at the time” the harder it can be to acknowledge and honor your limits. It’s not just walking up a steep hill but instead trying to rock climb up a mountain. It can feel downright impossible.
If you find you need more or less sleep than usual (and you find yourself rallying against yourself), well that could be one of those things you NEED that would make other things better. Basics, like eating real food, resting, getting away from screens, are the things that I usually ignore or push past the most. Yet they are things that when they are in place, make the biggest difference in my life. Whether or NOT I “get anything done.”
When I hit my limit someone else gets to come in and do what they do best. (I know there are plenty of people out there partying and having a great time while I’m asleep – they are partying enough to make up for me.) It’s why we hire different people with different skill sets to be complementary at work. It’s why opposites attract in relationships.
Limits are not bad or something to be fixed or “life-hack” our way out of. They are telling us our code for how we will function best in this world. (We might “have no limits” in eternity but we aren’t there yet.) We are here on Earth, with physical, mental, emotional and spiritual limitations.
I think of it as we are all trying to get to the top of what I’m going to call LIFE mountain. We want to learn things, grow, experience things, be with people, have our version of success and do the basics of life in an easier and more enjoyable version along the way. It all may look very different for each of us but the basics are the same.
Instead of trying to rock climb up a steep cliff, I am better off hanging out at the base of the mountain for awhile until someone comes along who I can help belay up the side (or maybe someone else can help me!) Maybe once I get to the top of that one cliff, I’m supposed to hang out here and check out the caves and the paths around the mountain for a time. And I can tell the people below me (or above me) that there may be a different way that’s easier for them. Or maybe a great view that would otherwise go unseen and unappreciated. (Because it is about the journey and not just the destination – intention matters.)
I’d like to think that’s what we are all doing in our own way as we go along in life. Trying to travel our own journey but reaching out along the way. It’s the limits that are not only going to help you, but help others as well.
Who would have thought? My seemingly antisocial evenings may help me and others reach the summit. And your limits will help others too.
