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I’ve been struggling a lot lately with stretching myself too thin. I have been saying yes to everything from happy hours to weekend trips to Instagram campaigns to bigger blogging projects. My problem is that I want to do it all. I want to make plans with friends. I want to grow my blog by taking on big campaigns. I want to travel and have new experiences on the weekends. And I want to do all of this with working a very full time job where I spend 40 hours each week. Why is this a problem? Because there’s no time for me. No time to relax. No down time. I’m learning that while it might seem exciting in the moment, doing everything makes me feel worse in the long run. It really hit me 2 weeks ago when I was so worn down that I got bronchitis. In the summer!

As someone who is prone to anxiety, down time is very important to me. Yet it always seems to come last in my list of priorities. On our flight home from LA last week, my husband and I had a long talk about this and decided to make some changes so that I can fully enjoy the month of August. Turns out, the term “Just say no” from middle school anti-drug lessons can apply to everyday adult life as well!

Here is what I’m doing to take it all down a notch:

Step 1: We cancelled our trip next weekend. We were supposed to visit my family in Martha’s Vineyard which is always one of my favorite vacations of the summer. I also happen to have a lot of guilt around not spending time with my family so this “no” was not an easy one for me. Although letting them down and changing our plans wasn’t something that I wanted to do, I now feel a wave of relief that we won’t have to spend hours traveling each way and then scrambling to get everything done on Sunday night like I’ve been doing most weekends lately.

Step 2: My husband also convinced me to commit to at least one day of relaxation every weekend. I’m not great at relaxation so by that I mean I won’t work for one full day. Not working seems like a pretty normal thing to do on weekends but that’s not really in my DNA. Even when we’re on vacation, I spend a chunk of each day on my lap top.

Step 3: For one night each week, no computers allowed. That means no blogging, no lingering Nourish Snacks projects, and no planning for upcoming travel. This step is extra hard for me because with a full time job and blog, nights are my favorite time to get things done, uninterrupted.

Step 4: Its ok to say no! We’re saving to buy a house so I want to say yes to every project that comes my way but I need to remember that waiting a few more months to buy a house is not nearly as bad as feeling overworked and underslept!

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