When was the last time you decided to ask for help?
Why is it that as women we struggle on trying to juggle everything on our own? Now, I am not knocking the men out there but they seem to be much better than women at making the decision to ask for help.
Women continue to try to balance looking after the home, the family including children and elderly parents, our own business and everything else that comes along our path in our day to day lives.
Why don’t we ask for help?
When running a business we are advised not to try to do everything ourselves for fear of burn out and to seek support so is it not time we do the same in our personal lives also?
I have personally been through a particularly busy spell. I have been working 12 hour days providing one to one support to clients including research and report writing time. Outside of these hours I also run my online business support service through The Small Business Kit. I continue to run the home making sure there is a hot nutritious meal on the table each evening. I try to keep the house clean and tidy and everyone’s laundry up to date.
And I struggle!!!
To top it off, this past week my elderly mother was taken poorly and I had the added burden of trying to look after her. And to be honest, I thought I was going to go pop!
My sleep got disrupted and during the day I regularly felt like I was on the verge of a panic attack. So what did I do? I took stock of what I could and couldn’t do and decided that housework was one chore too many. And I booked a cleaner.
The relief of asking of asking for help can be immense
The relief was immense. Just having that pressure of such a time-consuming chore taken off me was incredible. At first I wondered if I could afford to have someone come in and do something that I felt I should be doing myself. But then I decided I couldn’t afford not to. If I didn’t get help somewhere I was going to run myself into an early grave.
I also looked at my business and decided I could no longer afford to keep trying to do everything myself. Due to exhaustion my focus was being lost and I was not promoting The Small Business Kit effectively and getting it out there to help those women that I so desperately wanted to. So I have also employed a coach of my own to help me refocus and drive this side of my business forward (something that I do for others but just couldn’t seem to do for myself – can’t see the wood for the trees syndrome!)
Even Super Woman needs to hang up her cape sometimes
So don’t feel guilty and feel you have to do everything yourself. Long gone are the days of Super Woman. Even Super Woman has times when she needs to hang up her cape and get someone else to pick up the pieces to avoid burnout. Be realistic about what you can physically and emotionally keep up with and don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it.
If you ever feel like you just want a simple chat, I am more than happy to be there for you. Don’t ever feel alone. Get in touch and ask for help.