It’s amazing what freedom you can attain when you release things, habits (and people) who no longer serve you in a positive way from taking up space in your life or even just in your head.
Confession: I checked my email, on average, every 9 minutes from the time I took over the communications for our Rescue group up until just a few weeks ago.
Do you know how mentally crippling it is to check every 9 minutes? Can you fathom how much time I wasted refreshing and clicking? Guess what—we NEVER get emails every 9 minutes. But there I was, for years now, ineffectively using my time, checking and checking for responses, for new communications. A purely addictive behavior that served me, or Rescue, no positive purpose.
Compulsion is definitely in my nature but I think this particular compulsion started as a result of taking on such an important task, a task that I deemed highly time-sensitive. Combine that with an aggressive overachiever and solutions maker and BOOM: you’re checking for emails 6+ times an hour. Sometimes, I’m sure it was more frequently.
Sure, urgent issues in Rescue pop up (or should I say hop up?). But thankfully, they don’t occur every day and they certainly don’t happen every fraction of the hour, daily. Through consistent personal development, mindfulness and my precious oils, I am proud to say that I check my emails 2-4 times per day now. Massive difference. And when I check them at this frequency, I respond with more clarity and delegate more effectively.
In response to my energetic shift, “things” have quieted down on the Rescue front. Our educational efforts are wide-reaching. Our communication with perspective adopters or struggling owners who didn’t adopt from us still happens but, as I don’t feel the (although sometimes quiet) mania I used to, the intense situations just don’t show up any more. And when urgency arises, my clear mind and focused intrapersonal and interpersonal skills enable me to handle the necessary steps with much more ease than ever before.
As easy as it sounds to check one’s phone less, it wasn’t easy for me to cease the compulsion. But I did it. All is peaceful on the Rescue front.