Stay in Your Own Lane

Stay in your own lane.

What does that even mean?

Well, I understand what it means now, but even as little as 5 years ago I didn’t fully understand the saying. At the time, I was working with a health coach, Nadine Dumas (check her out, she is TOTALLY amazing, and renowned in her field – like, Forbes level - seriously!) and she would always say, “stay in your own lane”. I was working with her to become more physically fit (although she ended up also building my emotional strength and mindset – that’s for another time) and I would often garner her opinion on how I was doing compared to the average client. I liked my benchmarks. Lol.

I would be so confused – stay in my own lane? I was in my own lane. I visualized that analogy as lane swimming. I was in my own lane, but there of course were other swimmers around me all in the same race. I was competitive. Have been for years. I was raised with the belief that life is a competition and that status and rankings indicate worth. And yes, in some ways they do, but in other ways, they don’t (self-worth is not something that comes from outside of you). Please keep in mind that this conditioning was of course a repeated cycle of beliefs passed on from earlier generations, as they most often are.

Fast forward to now. I do understand this phrase and try to live by it. I am in my own lane and racing against myself. Just trying to be better than I was before. I now think of it as running – yes, as a runner you may be in a race with others, but it makes more sense to work on improving yourself and trying to beat that PB (personal best) from your last race rather than focus on beating someone else. We aren’t the other person, our circumstances are different, so why spend our precious energy on trying to be them or beat them? Beat yourself by bettering yourself a little more each day. Embrace who you are and run your own race. That’s where the real power lies. That’s where freedom comes in. That’s where you inspire others.

Fudge* the competition because your focus should be on you. Life gets so much easier and more enjoyable when you leave the race and stay in your own lane.

My initial intention for today's entry was to talk about hiatuses. It’s been months since I have written for this blog. I was on a hiatus. During the break, I had some guilt that I hadn’t kept up with my posting as initially planned. I was tired and mentally drained, even my body felt the exhaustion. It was a long, dark winter here in NWO, and coupled with life stressors (which we all have – positive and negative stress), I just didn’t have the energy to write, and my creative vein fell dormant.

Thoughts of, “other people with blogs would not let it go this far without posting”, or similar criticisms visited my mind, on occasion, over the past few months. But now, they don’t. So what if I took a break? I needed to do what was best for me and that was tuning in to my body and mind in order to recharge.

My energy is returning, my creative juices are beginning to flow again and my compassion for myself has increased. We need to be okay with being gentle with ourselves and not always comparing ourselves to others or trying to live life as a race or competition. Just be, let life flow, and enjoy the ride.

My wish for you today is that you give yourself grace and that you know that you must do what you need to do for yourself. Ignore the conditioning in your head telling you what you “should” be doing. Your intuition knows. You know. Trust your gut and stay in your own lane.

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Side note - If you are feeling drained, exhausted, and more tired than usual, be sure to reflect on why that may be and what you can alter in your life to bring yourself into balance and greater wellness. See your doctor, a naturopath, go for a massage, revisit your nutrition, and water intake, and check your relationships – are you spending time with people who energize you, or deplete you? Make sure you take care of yourself.

Turns out I had adrenal fatigue and iron deficiency and needed some supplements. Be sure to keep up on your well-being – physical, emotional, spiritual, social, and intellectual. In order to be able to help those around you, you need to ensure you are in optimal health - so don’t let that slide!

Have an awesome day, and a fabulous week and remember to…let your light shine!!

xo

*I withhold swearing in my blog, at this point, because it’s ingrained in me as an educator not to swear in public, but trust me, I like to throw the odd expletive around and hesitated not to use the word, "fudge" lol!! So feel free to replace it in your head, as you see fit. 😉😉