Maybe you’ve done quite a lot today.
Perhaps more than you’d planned to do. Perhaps more than most people would have noticed. You’ve answered the messages, dealt with the thing that needed dealing with, got through the work, remembered the other things that needed remembering and generally kept everything moving.
And yet, when you think about stopping, there’s that little voice asking whether you really have.
Maybe you could just do this one last thing.
Perhaps you should clear that up before you finish.
You know there’s still something on the list, so surely you can’t stop yet.
And sometimes what you really want is for someone to appear and say, “That’s enough. You’ve done enough today. You can stop now.”
I wonder what it is about that sentence that can feel so comforting.
Perhaps because if someone else says it, you don’t have to be the one who decides. You don’t have to wonder whether you’ve done enough, or whether you could have done a little more, or whether stopping means you’re being lazy or letting someone down.
Someone else has made the decision for you.
But what if there isn’t actually a magic number of things that need to be crossed off before you’re allowed to stop?
What if enough isn’t a finish line you eventually reach, but something you’re allowed to decide for yourself?
I don’t think that necessarily means you’ll suddenly become very good at stopping.
I suspect there might still be days when you find yourself looking around for someone to give you permission.
But perhaps you could notice that you’re doing it.
And maybe, just occasionally, you could hear your own voice say,
“You’ve done enough. You can stop now.”
If any of this sounds familiar and you’d like some company while you sit with it, you’re very welcome to join me in a Comfy Chair session.
No fixing, no homework and no pressure to figure anything out. Just a conversation and some time to see what becomes clearer when you don’t have to do it all on your own.
If something in this post resonates and you’d like to explore it further, reach out. I’d be happy to talk.
