Guilt. Why do many of us seem to experience this uncomfortable feeling more often than we should? Whether it be a guilty conscious about staying in bed until 9 a.m. or spending money when we should be saving, we still need to remember that we have needs in life. Don’t feel guilty for taking time to yourself when you need it, it will help you find your true identity.

Maybe it’s because we are in August, maybe it’s because we are starting the “school year” soon and I know I will get back on track, OR maybe it’s guilt. The past few weeks I have become lazier than ever when it comes to getting out of bed before 9 a.m. I haven’t been working out either because I’ve been making every dang excuse in the book.

I have so much on my mind with the magazine, planning a wedding, money, my and Rob’s goal as a team — that it’s simply exhausting. I believe because I have so much going on, I simply couldn’t or more realistically, didn’t want to move.

I believe I am not the only woman that when you have so much on your mind and so much going on, exercising is the last thing you make time for. Right?

Well, if not, send me your tips and secrets. 😉

As I’m writing this and reading, it sounds horrible because I love working out, being fit and feeling healthy, but lately I’ve been one big SLACKER! I associate working out with not being lazy, which is an issue. I know working out is beneficial for my overall health, but my subconscious is not convinced yet.

I was on the phone the other day with a dear friend, Alissa, who helps find your Confidence Compass, which is the name of her business. She walked me through with some exercises that she uses as tools to discover what is going on at a deeper level. A few things were going on with me mentally that were affecting the lack of exercising.

Guilt.

What is guilt?

Guilt is the state of being responsible for the commission of an offense.

Guilt came into play because we found that I was not separating my office and work with my personal life. Now that my team works remotely and I have an office in my Pocono home, it’s a challenge to separate work from my personal life.

Rob and I both work very hard, and we work many, many hours. Especially now with the wedding, we have lots to save so we are pushing hard.

Okay, so what Alissa and I discovered: One of the reasons I am not taking the time to workout is because I feel guilty that I should be working instead, growing the magazine for more partnerships in a variety of ways, and taking my career to another level.

I would think to myself, “Rob is out working, therefore, I have to work.” I also wasn’t hanging out with my friends as much because I felt guilty that if I was out having fun and spending money, it wasn’t fair because Rob was working and he never gets to see his friends.

I was putting all of these thoughts into my head and really damaging my individual needs of self-care. I was thinking the more I work, the faster I go, the quicker things will get done. Yes, you and I both know that’s not the case.

After my conversation with Alissa, I shared everything with Rob and he is always so great! He told me to stop with the excuses, get out of bed when he gets out of bed, and just get moving. (Yea, I wish it was that easy). He told me he knows how much we both support one another and how much we both are working hard to contribute to our home and life together, and to stop feeding my brain with these crazy thoughts.

It was great to hear that from him because we all need reassurance from time to time. I feel much lighter after sharing my thoughts with him.

Moving forward without guilt

Moving forward, I’ve learned to accept the responsibility to make healthy choices and to not accept the feeling of guilt. I appreciate my mind, body and soul; therefore, I must feed it with love and energy. Now that I can be clearer on the acceptance piece and acknowledge the appreciation, I can now start to achieve again.

We can easily get off track, and I would think that is OKAY, but let’s be quick to get out of our ruts and back on track.