As humans we are constantly making decisions. Whether it is a clear decision of this or that, or a decision to choose one priority over another, we choose something every single day.

Do you feel like you want something so badly right now, but you just aren’t moving towards it?

Within each decision, it is hard to distinguish when we need to push ourselves and when we need to pause for a minute. And when we really aren’t paying attention we pause when we need to push and push when we need to pause.

This simple mix up could be why you are not truly moving towards what you want.

Because when you are pausing when you need to push you are avoiding something that needs to be a priority.

And when you are pushing when you need to pause you are bringing yourself to burn out and exhaustion. 

How about an example?

I love a good Netflix binge every now and then. It disconnects me from the “shoulds” and hustle of life, it lets me pause. And let’s be real, I get kind of obsessed with tv series, they entertain me.

There’s a difference between when I Netflix binge now versus when I used to indulge in this life-interruption.

When I binge on a good series now it is solely to disconnect. It is not over indulgent, and here’s the big key…  it occurs only when I have paid attention to my priorities first.

When I used to binge on a series it looked a little closer to this: checking off one easy task from my to-do list then saying I need a break and using the rest of my open time to watch a show. By doing this I chose to make Netflix a priority over my tasks, so that I could avoid the hard tasks, the ones that made me a little uncomfortable.

See the difference?

Knowing when to pause…

Pausing in life is when you take a break. You break the pattern that you are in so that you can create space for clarity.
Pausing is good. But are you pausing because you truly need a self-care break or are you pausing as an excuse?

Only you get to be honest with yourself in this.

Start by asking yourself: How will this pause/break serve me?

Knowing when to push yourself…

When I say “push yourself” I don’t mean hustling yourself every moment of the day you have. I’ve already expressed the importance of pausing. Pushing yourself is knowing when you are stuck in a place of comfort and not moving.

Every level of ourselves that we reach requires new comfort zones to be pushed.

And when we start to operate in a new place, it is easy to forget what it took to get there, and we fall right back into comfort.

Notice when you have fallen into a plateau, if nothing new is coming through it may be time to push into a new level of something!

Take my Netflix binges for example, frequently these would be to avoid showing up on video. Because yikes that was scary in the beginning! BUT it was also something I wanted to do to take my marketing to the next level. I needed to push my level to do this, but instead I avoided it and no one knew I was choosing to ignore this call.

Start by asking yourself: What am I avoiding?

Knowing when to push and when to pause…

Really comes down to getting really honest with yourself. Sometimes the thing you are hiding from the most is your own inner workings.

Both taking breaks, and pushing your levels are important for getting balanced. Start listening to yourself to figure out what will serve you and your highest desires best!