Enough exercise. Enough sleep. Enough water. Enough sex. Enough mindfulness. Enough quality time with your kids/partner/family/friends/self. Feeling as though you need to be doing “enough” self care is even a thing now.
How do you know if you’re doing enough?
Depends what your measure for “enough” is. If it’s “according to someone else”, probably not. If it feels good, and it supports the life you want in the medium-to-longer term, it’s enough.
There will always be noise from the external world telling you to do more of ‘ABC’ for ‘XYZ’ result. Everyone and everything around us is breathing in the air of ‘I can get better’, ‘I need more’, ‘I should do more [insert whatever], ‘There is something better’ ‘If I just [buy/do/achieve] [insert whatever] then…’ But, the joke is on us, with all our endless striving, because as the yogis teach, everything we’re searching for is all already available. We already are enough, just as we are.
I suppose that message doesn't sell very much. So often, even after doing so much work on my values, and what really matters to me, I still find myself drawn in by aesthetics and capitalism, with its big promises and gimmicks.
To some extent it is because there is an element of grief, at least initially, in accepting that you are already enough. That there is no where else you are going to 'get' to, no other version of yourself you are going to become, no matter how much you strive or what you try to prove. You don't get your best life by constantly trying to do more. Health, wellbeing and presence doesn't have a "look", a shape, a particular methodology, weight, shape, routine or 'hack'. It's about YOU. Getting to know, trust, accept, respect and perhaps one day love, YOU. So, letting go of those external benchmarks and their promises can be painful. That may lead some people to want to unsubscribe from what I'm saying. I get that.
With HF, I’m trying to opt out of a socially constructed BS version of “enough exercise”, and free you to consider what enough might be for you. If you want more - do more! But make sure it’s because you genuinely want more, not because you think 10-15 minutes a day can’t really be enough.
I’m here to give you permission to truly accept that it is.
Some movement is better than no movement. In fact, some movement is the perfect amount of movement, and is so sublimely enough.
Comments