How heavy is your week?

Hi Guys,

Last week I wrote about the importance of placing more focus on the girl underneath the clothes than on the size label. The topic resonated with so many of you that I thought I’d keep this week's blog on the same note!

Productivity. Being motivated. Being at the top of your game. It’s all become a bit too much, hasn’t it? Judging your progress against others has become a day to day concern. Seeing these gym going, healthy eating, hard working, sleep getting, skin caring women can sometimes do a lot more harm than good. Ok, we can all appreciate that it’s a type of envy. We all want to be at the top of our game, but sometimes it’s a losing one. Who doesn’t want to wake up, tick every box on their list and go to bed thinking they’ve made those 24 hours some good ones?

We see a lot of this, in whatever stage of life we are in. At Uni I vividly remember that feeling of realising you’d done less work on an essay than your course mate. In the gym, you wonder why those calories aren’t showing on your screen. In lockdown, you see those Strava scores and you think to yourself “I didn’t walk 12k steps today”. You didn’t get your 9 hours of sleep, eat your 5 fruit and vegetables or even drink those 2 litres of water you tell yourself that you need to. Soon, you realise that you’re actually your own worst enemy. I'm tired of arguing with myself...aren't you?

Recently I’ve been trying to cut myself some slack and making sure those smaller parts of the day are recognised. Do you ever see “I didn’t do this today” on any form of social media? Do you see the girl who didn’t? The girl who slept in. The girl who decided to put it off until tomorrow. Of course not. And would it even make you feel better? Sometimes you need that bit of envy to get yourself off the sofa and to your laptop. But stop punishing yourself if you don’t, girl!

I was once caught out with the “what weighs more, a ton of feathers or a ton of bricks?” question. You think, well, bricks are heavier, right? It’s important to see goals like this, to see productivity like this, to see your day like this. Feathers seem like the lighter option. What if those smaller, self-care goals are the feathers. And what if the bigger, meaningful goals are the bricks. Both weigh a ton to the person carrying them.

I suppose my point this week is that sometimes it's easy to get caught up in the success of others, questioning why the other person is further ahead than you, or fitter than you, or more social than you. Why didn't you get up earlier, work harder, eat better or laugh heavier?

Rewind your day.

You laughed, you ate, you worked, you didn’t oversleep and miss it all.

Sometimes we are the go-getters, the do-betters and the plan setters. Other times, we aren’t. And either is fine. You will get there.

Let’s not forget that being on your own team is the only way you can be at the top of your game.

Emma x