Breathing Room

Do you have breathing room in your life? Many of us don’t even know what this means. Breathing room is making time for rest on purpose so we can increase our strength and give us time to think about what we need to do next.

When we wake up in the morning, we should be rested and full of energy to start a new day. The problem is, many of us don’t sleep well so we are already worn out before the day even starts. Then we start thinking about all the things we have to accomplish that day and our brains start spinning in circles.

Our calendars are full and we are trying to carry burdens that we were not intended to carry. We have been brainwashed to believe that the busier we are, the more value we have but in reality, all this does is lead to stress on our bodies, our minds and our emotions.

Our bodies need rest in order to function properly. Both religion and science back up this fact. This means a good night’s rest and not pushing ourselves during the day trying to accomplish what only 3 people were meant to handle. We need to create some breathing room in our lives! Here are some ideas:

Create breathing room in your calendar. This is one of the areas that people often over-extend themselves. Our culture pressures us to keep a busy schedule, convincing us that this is the way to find happiness and success. Wrong! All you have to do is look around you and see busy, important people having breakdowns and all sorts of health issues caused by too much stress. We are definitely our own worst enemies!

Create breathing room in your home. Make your living space as simple as possible, getting rid of anything you don’t need. De-clutter, re-organize, re-decorate. A home should be pleasing to the eye, easy to clean and have plenty of room to safely move around in. Too much stuff costs money and causes stress.

Create breathing room in your mind. If you are focused on too many things, your mind will be full of chaos and confusion. Yes, there are tons of things you could do, but how many are important? When you feel stress building, take a time out. Find a comfortable place to sit by yourself and try to block out any stressful thoughts. Meditate, pray, listen to some quiet, soothing music. Make this a daily habit.

Create breathing room in your finances. Spending more that we have is a common practice today. Just charge it and pay tomorrow. Not a good idea! Getting into debt is easy but paying off your bills is hard. Our culture tells us we deserve whatever we want but all this does is get us into trouble. Needs and wants are very different and we don’t always need what we want.

Create breathing room in your relationships. We all struggle with family and friends because of our selfish nature. Be loving and forgiving. Let go of things that are not important and allow others to be who they are and not who you expect them to be.