Do you listen to your body?

Recently I’ve been feeling run down and very extremely tired. While we were on break last week I was up until 1 or sometimes 2 a.m. – I slept until at least 10 most days and a few days it was almost 11 before I could peel myself out of bed.

My to-do lists seem to be never-ending. The things I want to do and events I want to attend seem to be put on the back burner to make room for more projects I keep saying yes to.
When am I going to learn to say no?

Sure, I keep saying that I am going cut back and make time for me – do what I really want to do – even if all that means is sitting on the couch to read some magazines, walking on the beach, or writing a blog post.

Yet somehow this is not what is happening. For every one project I said no to, I seem to have said yes to three others. There is definitely something wrong with this scenario … and my body is trying to tell me something.

My body is saying “Hello, snap out of it. Listen to me. You’re not a spring chicken anymore and you need to slow down.” So why am I not listening to my body? Why can I not say no to people?

When your body is so tired that you can’t wait to go bed, but when you finally lay down your brain goes into overload … there is a problem.

When insomnia sets in and you lay in bed for 2 hours watching the clock … there is a problem.

When you don’t listen to your body … there is a problem.

Starting today, starting right now, I am going to listen to my body. Some people may be upset or annoyed with me when I tell them that I can’t finish something I said I would do and the house might not be spotless. The laundry and dishes may pile up, but that’s OK because I am going to start saying yes to me and start listening to my body.

How often do you listen to your body when it’s trying to tell you something?