” It’s too much of a load,” said my client. ” I have too much on my plate,” said another client. ” It feels really heavy,” said yet another client. All around me with my clients, others, and myself things feel heavy. The Pandemic lingers on, comes back, never leaves, life is far from normal, many months have gone by and we still have no reassurance that an end is in sight. Add to the pandemic that the attempt at returning to a post-pandemic era is fraught with its own special brand of stress! Delays caused by the pandemic are now bringing out for many backlogs, health concerns, financial strains caused by lockdowns, In other words, it seems that many if not all of us are carrying a pretty heavy load right now.
As my client was telling me that her load feels too heavy, it came to me to share a little experience I had just had with her to see if we could uncover ways to lighten her load. Here it is. Yesterday, in the heat, I was carrying a paper bag full of groceries! My car was in the shop and my ankle was recovering from rolling it last week. I had to go about a mile. uphill, the watermelon was sweating through the bag, the Perrier was bumping along, and the blueberries were jiggling dangerously close to falling out. It was quite a load. So about halfway home, I stopped! I sat down on a park bench, Ruffus went in the lake, Martin, who had been coaxing a pulling hot dog, ate the watermelon, I drank some Perrier, I rearranged the groceries, and then climbed the rest of the way uphill to home with less effort. So by taking a break and rearranging the groceries I was able to make it home groceries and I intact. No broken bag with Perrier splat on the street and no me fainting in the heat,
As I told this story to my client, I asked her to think about ways she can put her load down, even just for a little while. I challenged her belief that carrying a heavy load is accomplished by non-stop pushing. What can she take off her plate? How can she change her thoughts about her load? How can she take the load off even if just for a little while to rest to find peace and to find the strength to continue.
And as so often happens with stories I learn so much about myself and others! This story reminds me of why I used to “OVER” I used to drink a bit too much wine and eat chips mindlessly both of what I call “overing” ! I did not know then that I could stop! So I pushed and pushed all day long until at I night the stress had accumulated so much that to find relief I overed! But now I know to stop on the park bench and rest. Now I know that the way to carry a heavy load no matter if it is groceries or pandemic blues or any other challenge in life is step by step, in the present moment. But the most important lesson for me is that by resting we become stronger!
All the best,
Susy
