Let’s have a heart-to-heart chat about the importance of knowing your limits and respecting them!

Hello, there! I hope you’re having a terrific week and are enjoying these dog days of summer – as hot as they may be.

I’m now one month out from my most recent back surgery and one-third of my way through the more intense recovery period. On my walk this morning I started mentally beating myself up that I’ve let a month go by and not done “more”. It’s a wild thing the way that we talk to ourselves – saying things we would absolutely never say to a friend or loved one who’s going through a healing process or difficult time.

I was discounting that one month ago I was hardly able to move but I’ve successfully built up to being able to walk 3.5 miles in one go. I’ve been wearing this bloody awful “bone growth” stimulator for four hours every day and moving about wearing a back brace which is not exactly comfortable in the scorching heat. I’ve lost ten pounds, read five books, been eating nutritious meals, meditating daily and had my most successful month ever on Pinterest – in large part because of the gorgeous Fall 2022 couture collections from Georges Hobeika and Schiaparelli — both of which I also wrote about. I’ve spent a lot of time with family, including my adorable little niece, started selling some of my photography for passive income and won an uphill battle with an insurance company.

The Importance of Knowing Your Limits

After forcing myself to recall the things that I have accomplished over the last several weeks I started to recognize that there’s also an importance of knowing your limits.

Do I intend to write more in the weeks ahead and get back into a regular schedule of posting here on Dreaminlace as well as my weekly newsletter that became more biweekly in the midst of my recovery? Yes. Yes! I intend to get back in a groove but we all need to listen to our mind and bodies more — lovingly respecting their limits the same way we would anyone else.

Tips for Recognizing Your Limits

To inspire you to hopefully be kinder to yourself, I thought I’d share some insight I’ve gathered over the last weeks that hopefully will help guide you on the importance of knowing your limits and respecting them for your well-being.

STAY CHARGED LIKE YOUR CELLPHONE

When I was pounding the pavement on my walk it dawned on me that the importance of knowing your limits is super easy to understand when you think of yourself like the iPhone.

The sting of anxiety creeps in when the battery life hits yellow and even more when it screams to be charged in glaring red. And when you ignore the warning signs what happens? The phone dies. It’s dead and won’t work at all until you get it to a charger. We can all apply that same principle to ourselves and if we don’t take time to recharge – our battery will be fully depleted too.

YOUR BEST WORK IS BETTER THAN YOUR WORST

One of the biggest life lessons I’ve learn is that it’s always better to take a step back and regroup over pushing through burnout.

Otherwise you run the very real risk of making mistakes that undermine your effort altogether and possibly leave you needing to start all over again. Been there before and oh gosh is it painful and frustrating!

TO AVOID INJURY

If you’ve ever pulled a muscle, you know the importance of knowing your limits to avoid the consequences of a physical injury – be it severe or minor.

TO NOT SINK!

Last night I was listening to a guided meditation on the beloved Calm app and the closing sentiment of a session on boundaries really stuck with me. The guide shared a quote on staying afloat:

“Ships don’t sink because of the water around them. They sink because of the water that gets in them.”

It created such a perfect visual in my mind of how everything around us and in our lives is the water and we are the boat that needs to maintain our walls to stay afloat.

Thank you for reading! I hope this reflection on the importance of knowing your limits helps give positive food for thought for your own daily life.

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