Burnt Out

My mother once told me, "Megan, you can't always do everything." However, it is hard to take that advice from someone who was guilty of trying to do everything too. 

But, growing up, I was convinced with careful planning, organization and the ability to live on minimal sleep - I could do almost anything - but with a cost of becoming burnt out and not being able to give 100% to everything. But I had FOMO (fear of missing out) before it was a real thing. 

With only a few weeks left of living in Kansas City, I have found myself slipping into old habits - and trying to do everything and see everyone before I leave. Last night, I hit a wall. You need sleep, my body said. 

And I went home and slept for 12 hours straight and when I woke up and made myself breakfast, it didn't even burn! Probably because I wasn't rushing around trying to multi-task and get to the next thing. 

I had considered going out of town with friends but found myself happy to have stayed home and taken the time to run errands, workout and relax. 

I read a great article the other day called, The Science of Improving Your Performance at Almost Anything, that touts leisure as important to being effective in life, "We also shouldn’t forget the importance of leisure. This, in addition to health benefits, makes us more creative."

It's pretty obvious that if your mind is running at 100 miles/hour to keep up with your body, you can't really think and let your thoughts go. 

I still have a lot of things left to do before I leave in the next 2 weeks, but for now I'm excited to enjoy this long weekend of leisure to recharge. 

It's Not Me, It's the Toast

Hopefully you don't think I'm some kind of irresponsible girl just out of college and green to the world, because (contrary to the picture painted by the previous posts) I am turning 30 this year and would consider myself to be pretty successful. 

So how do these things happen to you? You might ask. Well this past weekend, I was thinking that same thing. I am a very rational and responsible person 90% of the time, but over the past 2-3 months it'll be like a switch flips and I'll do things very out of character. 

I decided to investigate this weekend and came across a book called, The Brain Chemistry Diet, based on the premise that what you eat can have a huge impact on your mood, how you handle stress and how you overcome depressing situations. Not only that, but it is different based on your personality type. 

This is a very interesting concept that what you eat on a daily basis can drastically impact your mental process and emotions. I used to have a very healthy diet, but over the past several months I have fallen off the wagon and have been eating a lot more carbs and much less fruits and vegetables than I used to. 

I know what you are thinking. I can't blame everything on my toast consumption and there are other contributing factors to my thinking and emotions. However, I became intrigued enough to try it out as an attempt to help be more balanced, especially after reading the case study about "Sarah", whose situation was creepily similar to mine. 

I've identified my personality trait to be a "Star". Without sharing the whole recommended food list, there are specific suggestions on what to eat and what to avoid during certain states of mind. 

While I know there is not a chance that I can follow it to a tee (especially the avoid alcohol & caffeine part), it's an interesting concept that I'm willing to give a try and might improve my cooking skills if I am forced to make other things than toast. :)

I started my experiment tonight and let's just say this is going to be quite the learning experience...