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 What's the rush? by
Jenna Avery, CLC, Life Coach for Sensitive Souls Highly
sensitive people don't like to work under stress and pressure. It makes
us nervous and lessens the quality of our performance. As
people with particularly high standards and conscientiousness, the
conflict between wanting to do well and feeling unable to do so builds
into an intense and painful internal struggle. It's
no wonder we sometimes explode, and more often burn out. Internally,
many of us feel driven to perform, excel, and succeed. We want to do
good work. We feel driven to earn more money, or by the fear that we
don't have enough. We
feel flawed for being highly sensitive and try to prove that we are
not. We feel behind on life's accomplishments. We
over-schedule because we don't want to miss anything, but we end up
doing unimportant things. We are
filled with passions, visions, and projects that compel us forward,
taking on more and more. We
postpone pleasure until we have accomplished our tasks, but the tasks
remain unending. We
spend our time injudiciously, perhaps in rebellion. We play games,
answer lots of e-mail, create complicated solutions for small problems,
and then rush to compensate. We
rush to meet deadlines, believing we must be in a state of emergency to
accomplish them. As
sensitive people, we even rush because we feel that we have limited
energy for any one thing and instead try to cram as much as possible
into the time available. One
example is food: organic, biodynamic, conventional, traditionally
processed, local, or commercially processed? Another
is deodorant: scented or unscented; solid, roll-on, or clear; with or
without parabens; with or without aluminum; preservatives; etc. When I
worked in my prior high-pressure, deadline- and crisis-driven
profession, I daydreamed about writing a book called "Hey, Folks, We're
Doing It All Wrong." I see
all the rushing and busyness as a systemic failure of mainstream
culture, one that we as the sensitive sages of the world can see and
point to, but one that we also fall victim to, time and again. Let us
not be the canaries in the coal mine, but rather models for a new way. We can
choose to follow our intuition about what is the next most important
thing for us to focus on. We can become conscious and deliberate about
the choices we make. We can cushion our departures so we easily arrive
on time for appointments. We can
observe, rather than absorb, the energy of rushing as it goes on around
us. My
intuition was that I needed an entire weekend of quiet time at home,
puttering with my new husband. It
wasn't easy to say that to our family, or to avoid my own internal
obligation trap that tells me what I "should" be doing. But I
am grateful for my choice. Today, I feel rested and whole. She
gets up two hours early if needed and plans for a nap later in the day,
in order to avoid rushing. As Oprah Winfrey might say, she has slowed
down to the speed of life. Let us
be models for rational living that better serve our selves, our
communities, and our planet. * Will
anyone die if I don't respond to this "emergency," or stop treating it
as such? * Is
this worth my precious time and energy? * Is
this choice in alignment with who I am here to be? * Is
this a "should" or a "have-to"? *
What's next? * What
is my inner wisdom telling me here? And
remember, from a spiritual perspective: You are right on time. You'll
never get it "right" and you'll never get it done, so enjoy the ride. Women
In Overdrive: Find Balance and Overcome Burnout at Any Age, by Nora
Isaacs
Copyright 2007, Jennifer Avery, All rights reserved. Jenna Avery is
a highly sensitive coach and intuitive who offers an original coaching
program called Embrace Your
Essential Self, designed to guide sensitive souls to find a deep
sense of inner rightness within themselves so they are inspired to step
forward and shine. Jenna is a Certified Life Coach
based in Berkeley,
California. She can be reached at 510.528.1696. You’re invited to take
her free online assessment: "Is Your
Sensitivity Working For You?" on her website at www.highlysensitivesouls.com ~ ~ ~ Photo at top by Nina Berman, from Time Magazine article [Nov.
17, 2002] related to the book Too
Loud, Too Bright, Too Fast, Too Tight, by Sharon Heller, PhD [See the page intensity / sensitivity 2] ~ ~ ~ Related pages on Talent
Development Resources : stress / de-stress......... stress resources articles books programs intensity
/
sensitivity Highly Sensitive blog GT
Adults giftedness ~ ~ ~ |
