Give Yourself A Little Room To Breathe

We live in a world that moves fast.

Trends change faster than we can replace the clothes in our closet. Deadlines approach quicker than we expect them to. People come and go, like flowers through the seasons. Time goes on.

And even though we’re sometimes emotionally, mentally, and physically exhausted because of how fast everything is moving – and all we want is for time to freeze so we can catch our breath – unfortunately the world doesn’t stop for anyone.

I know how tired you are. I know how you’re longing for a break from everything that’s been going on. I know it seems right now that life has been throwing one struggle after another at you, and you just can’t keep up. I have to admit, I’m at that place right now, too. But don’t be so hard on yourself for being where you are.

No one said that life would be easy. But no one said that it’d be this hard, either.

We’re constantly pushed to our limits to go further, to do better. We compare our lives to other people’s lives as a reassurance of our progress and achievements, and to reaffirm where we think we’re supposed to be.

Let’s take social media as an example. Our social media feeds are filled with pictures of happy people, good times, nice places, perfect makeup, beautiful wardrobes, and seemingly no worries in the world. Very rarely will you see people instead sharing about the negative things in their lives – their struggles, their mental health issues, their heartbreak, their worry, their loss, their tragedies, and the list goes on. It doesn’t happen.

It’s not a fair representation of what real lives really look like on a day-to-day basis, but sometimes we forget that. We admire – maybe even envy or covet – other people’s lives, based on what we see from the outside.

We’re too hard on ourselves to live that picture-perfect life where we try our best to make everything go smoothly, from work to relationships.

What we see are people’s highlight reels – not their behind-the-scenes. It’s what goes on behind closed doors when we’re all alone at the end of the night, the party’s over, and there’s no one there to keep us company at our lowest.

It’s okay to struggle sometimes. It’s okay to be behind on things. It’s okay to fail. It’s okay to feel like the world is falling apart. It’s okay to not yet be the person you see as the end goal. It’s okay to have your limits pushed, and not be able to withstand the stress. It’s normal to feel that way when things get too overwhelming.

When it happens, take a moment to slow down, and just be in the moment. You here right now, aren’t you? All is not lost – you’re just not where you want to be yet. You’ll get there, someway, somehow.

The path isn’t going to be straight and simple, and you shouldn’t expect it to be. But it’ll lead you to all the right places.

Push your limits, but when you know you’ve done all you possibly can, don’t be so hard on yourself. Breathe.