The 100 Day Challenge Program Days 90 - 81: Of sleep and chicken soup

The 100 Day Challenge Program
Days 90 - 81

Of sleep and chicken soup:

*******************************
Has it really been 10 days since we started our journey? Amazing how fast time flies when we're set challenges. Every day is packed full of stuff to do... No, sorry can't stop, things to do, things to do.

Well have I got news for you - today's challenge is to take a rest day ...

The jarring cough has hurt my ribs, or more specifically the muscles around and over the ribs. Hacking, energy draining, trying to shift the gunk and the irritation off my chest and lungs. Every time I cough I drown out every other sound. A neighbor talking on the front yard, the wind rifling through the eucalyptus trees that need taking down when I can find the $600 to do it, the wind chimes that need replacing and the delicate bird song that both annoys and intrigues my cats. For once though I can't hear traffic. I live on a corner block, the road I lovingly call "brands hatch", but it is the middle of a working day and it appears that most of my neighbors are working. I would be too, save for this cold / cough / flu that has knocked me off my feet. Should I have had the flu jab?

I'm tired, my sinuses are paining me and yet I know that if I attempt to lie down the intermittent whoop whoop of the cough will become worse. I thought sleep was supposed to be the panacea to all ills. That and chicken soup. Well I can't sleep, even though I want to, and I can't be bothered to make chicken soup. Shall I go and buy some? Maybe later, maybe tomorrow, maybe when I'm feeling a bit better - by which time of course I won't feel like eating chicken soup, but at least my taste buds would recognize the flavors.

I've always found illness to be a way to reconnect with the body. A chance to rest the mind, a chance to go back to basics, a chance to recognize what is important.

Which makes me wonder why we need to become "ill" to find out what is important to us. But there are countless stories of people who have battled major illnesses and accidents to come out the other side, stronger, more determined and KNOW what they want to do. They go climb mountains, leave partnerships that don't suit them, move house, change jobs, write books. All of a sudden life is to be lived and lived to the max.

Why do we need to get ill to determine all that? Surely quiet time allows that inner reflection to take place. Now I'm not so sure. When we are forced to take "time off" to power down, to switch off and let the illness work it's way through and out of our body, all we focus on are the little things. I'll get up and clean my teeth. Tea, I'll make a pot of tea, that will be nice. Maybe I should read a book? Which one? Chicken soup - yes maybe I'll get in the car and fetch myself some chicken soup.  We don't have the constant chatter that runs through our normally "quiet" minds when we pretend to have "down time".

"I'll just do ... and then I shall be able to sit down and work out what my goals / life will be like in the next 5 years..."

If our life is a journey, illness I think is a chance to duck into a rest stop and evaluate what is working for us and what isn't. You have now had 10 days on this particular challenge. My health and exercise challenges have had to change - dramatically since we started just a short time ago. That's OK, it's Ok to say - you know what, that wasn't working out just as well as I had hoped. Now what?

Well - EVERY 10 days of the challenge, I would like to challenge you to take an entire day off. As my partner told me today - take time to play. That also means it will be a different day each time, and a bit more of a challenge.

In amongst the daily activity that is our current hecticness we forget to play, we forget to take the time to rest, recover, recuperate and reflect on our goals, our dreams and our lives. Had I done so, maybe I wouldn't have landed myself with another challenge to overcome. Maybe that IS my lesson to learn. STOP trying to do so darn much - what are you trying to prove anyway - that you are superwoman?

Action steps:

1. Take a day off - it's probably too late to take today, but I would like you to schedule into your 100 day challenge - 1 day off every 10. That means, stopping the diet, the exercise, the book writing the client calling, the planning, the preparation - everything - and I would like you to think about you for a change. Then as you stop the churn,

2. Think about what has worked, what hasn't, what needs tweaking what is simply NOT working and needs to be stopped completely?

3. Where can you make some improvements? Are your challenges, challenging enough or do you need to stretch yourself just a little more?

A day off completely can help you to determine that.

So what has my down time said to me?

I do too much, but I don't do enough of the thing that really matters to me - when I'm busy I forget to write. I know I write ALL the time, but I forget to write and I lose part of myself when I do. Taking regular rest stops can help you find yourself. Scuse me, I'm off to write.

Kind Regards

Elle

---------------------------
Let's Connect:
---------------------------
http://www.twitter.com/MotivateMe_info
http://www.facebook.com/ellegb
---------------------------
Share this e-zine:
---------------------------
We would like to thank you in advance for forwarding this issue onto family, friends and any other interested readers. If you find that this message is going into the canned meat product folder can you please add my e-mail address to your safe senders list. Thank you.

To unsubscribe: Either hit the reply button and add unsubscribe to the beginning of the subject line. Please note: you do need to unsubscribe using the same e-mail address you subscribed with for this to take effect. Or if for some reason you get a bounce back - go to http://www.motivateme.info/contact-motivateme/ and let me know that way. For some reason (and no-one seems to know why) sometimes my e-mail address doesn't work, and I apologize for the inconvenience. It appears to be an intermittent technological problem that is out of my hands at this time.

Thank you for taking the time to read these daily musings, we hope to see you again in the not too distant future.
All contents Copyright (c) 2005/2011 Motivateme.info except where indicated otherwise.
All rights reserved worldwide. No Spamming or List Sharing - We do not share, nor give out, our subscription list to third parties.