I was running Bedford Half Marathon on Saturday and I saw a lady in front of me who had #noexcuses written on the back of her vest. We all make excuses for things but I had a bit of an epiphany at that moment. If something is really important then we make time for it. I already knew this but I got a rather untimely reminder this week.
Why we make excuses
We ALL make excuses. We use them to lessen the guilt we feel when we do something wrong or don’t achieve what we set out to. Often we use excuses to avoid saying sorry because we feel scared or ashamed of our weaknesses. We might say that we are:
- Too busy
- Not good enough
- Waiting for the right time
- Not capable of achieving our goal
- Putting others first
I can tell you that none of these excuses are true; we tell ourselves them to (seemingly) protect ourselves from the thing we fear. Most often that’s failure.
Self Care September
Last year I introduced #selfcareseptember to you and I was keen to do so again this year but I accidentally missed caring for myself on Sunday, which resulted in taking an enforced rest day on Monday which has put me behind all week. I have been beating myself up ever since. Yesterday as I was worrying about not getting this written or sending out my newsletter I realised I was making excuses…not for not getting stuff done but before that, for actually working too hard and not taking the time to look after myself. I was using the ‘too busy’ excuse.
We feel guilty for taking time to nourish ourselves so we avoid it or blame it if we do for getting behind (like I did this week) but the truth is that we all need to employ a ‘no excuses’ rule to our lives when it comes to self-care. I have written before about what happens if we don’t take care of ourselves (hint: it’s the same reason we put on our own oxygen mask first).
Will you commit to making #noexcuses for your self-care this September?