Setting Boundaries...

We all struggle with this at some point in time in our lives... for me this truly hit home this past week.

I am a people pleaser. I will please others before myself, even if that means that I have to give up something, etc. I am also a businesswoman and studio owner... put these two things together and what do you get? A pushed to her limits yogi that can snap at any moment... And the other day I did.

It's funny what the final straw turns out to be. A funny look, a misunderstood comment... for me it was a minor argument about a song with my husband that ended with me in tears in his arms and a very strong curling iron... I won't get into the specifics of the argument because they are trivial, and no I didn't throw the curling iron at my husband, just the mirror LOL and don't worry both are fine.

The point of this is that I shouldn't have let myself get pushed that far. No one should.

I am teaching an insane amount of classes, all by myself, and running my studio (for the most part) all by myself, and to have clients tell me how I should do things, why I have a downtime between classes, etc. really got to me last week.

I mean here I am putting my heart and soul into my studio and you are giving me a hard time because I am taking an hour break before classes to eat a banana and recharge a little? Seriously?

I felt so unappreciated last week it wasn't funny. I had days where I just wanted to disappear and not deal with anyone. Not good when all I do all day long is deal with people LOL. But I bit my tongue and kept my mean thoughts to myself. And come Sunday I took 90% of the day for myself. No phone, no texting, no email... I cut myself off from the business world (and my personal world aside from my husband). This had to be one of the hardest things I have had to do, aside from not putting some overbearing customers in their place LOL.

By the end of the day I was relishing in my me time and wishing I had more. I have now decided to make this a Sunday ritual and to do this in the evenings after I am done instructing for the day.

This also got me thinking... in my goal to please everyone I lost myself. I took away my me time, my hubby and me time, my errand time, my sleep in past 5am time... It has also made me consider cutting back on classes, maybe taking another day off, so I would only be going strong 5 days a week instead of 6.

I am struggling to make this last part work because I know it's going to tick some people off. But in the long run it will make for a much happier me, which means classes that will kick your butt when they are suppose to and relax you when you need it.

So as of right now I am assessing my schedule and seeing which day I can eliminate some work time to make room for some April time.

The moral of all this rambling is, in the midst of making everyone happy, PLEASE don't forget about yourself, your wants, your needs, your YOU time. Because no one can do it for you...