265. Journal With Me: When Your To Do List Starts Defining Who You Are
Some things stay on your plate long after they've stopped serving you. Not because they have to, but because somewhere along the way they became part of who you believe you need to be. The task isn't just a task anymore. It feels like proof that you're responsible, capable, caring, or enough.
Today's journal is about slowing down long enough to notice what you're really carrying and why it still feels so heavy.
Journal Prompts
- What feels heavy on your plate right now?
- Did you put it there yourself, or did it find its way onto your plate because someone asked you to, because everyone else was doing it, or because it felt like something you should do?
- Finish this sentence. By having this on my plate, it makes me a better....Then try the opposite.Without doing this, I would be...
- Now imagine taking it off your plate completely. What could you do with that space? Not what you'd replace it with. Just the space itself.
Sometimes going this deep is all the permission you need to put something down. Other times it shows you there's something underneath that's been keeping it there all along. That's exactly what we work through inside Lighter.
Work with me:
- Lighter: finally release the weight attached to your plate www.samanthapenkoff.com/lighter
- The Leaders Table: https://www.samanthapenkoff.com/leaders-table
- Breakthrough Intensive: You already know you should slow down, delegate more, stop overcommitting & be emotionally present. So why can't you? That's what we figure out in 90 minutes + integration call 1 week later. Book your Breakthrough
- Exhale Private Coaching: For women ready to do this work until it sticks and you can't revert back. 3 open spots: Work with me
Transcript
Welcome to part two of our What's on Your Plate series. Last week we talked about the full point on episode 262, and then we journaled through it on episode 263. And then on Tuesday, we talked about how comparison and it shoulds quietly overflow your plate and they make them heavier. Today we're journaling through just one item that's feeling heavy.
And the subconscious belief as to why it's still on your plate instead of lightening it or maybe getting rid of it completely. And just a quick shameless plug: if you are feeling like you're ready for your brain to stop feeling like it's just an endless to-do list, making sure that you don't forget anything, and you want to actually enjoy every day with a brain that feels lighter and calmer and like you're actually present and there.
With those that you love or even at work loving what you're doing, check out my 12-week experience called Lighter. We will be lightening your plate without changing your to-do list or even asking for more help, because I'm sure you've already tried that. This program is built to fit into your busy season. So if you're busy, this is the perfect time because your life isn't the thing that has to get lighter, your brain is.
So click the link in the show notes to reserve one of the 15 spots or just to learn more about it. Okay, let's dive into our prompts for today and check out the show notes for all of the prompts if you want to come back to them at any point.
Prompt number one. What feels heavy in your life right now? What feels heavy on your plate? It might be part of your morning routine, an obligation that you do every day or every week.
Or a seasonal activity like we talked about on Tuesday.
Prompt two, did you create this activity or was it assigned to you? Meaning, did you put this on your own plate, or did somebody else literally ask you to do this? Or someone else added it to their plate and you felt like you should do it too? This is getting at our comparison or shoulds from Tuesday.
Prompt three. Finish this sentence. By having this on my plate or by doing this thing, it makes me a better. Maybe it's a better mom, boss, human. And if it helps to think of it this way, you can answer the question: without doing this activity, I would be, maybe, I would be lost.
I would be viewed as incompetent. So what comes up for you at the end of each of those sentences?
Prompt for if you completely took this off your plate, what could you do with that new space? Including leaving it open for actual room to maybe sit in a cozy corner of your house and read, not filling it with another obligation.
Amazing job. Prompt two is giving insight as to why it feels heavier than other things on your plate. Prompt three is pointing you as to why you're keeping it on your plate, even though it does feel heavy. And then prompt four is inviting you to imagine a day where you put down that burden because it is possible to do that.
And sometimes going this deep is all the permission you need to recalculate the things on your plate or take something off entirely. And other times it requires breaking it down even more, especially if it feels like fear, expectations, or your identity is attached to this activity and letting it go, you kind of feel a little ping of like, no, I can't do that. Then this would happen, or then this, they would think this.
That is what lighter is for. Not changing your to-do list, but helping you go about your day with a quieter mind, with fewer mental reminders, and just a lighter plate. If that sounds like something you could benefit from, click the link in the show notes. Either way, thank you for journaling with me today. And I'll see you on Tuesday for part three of this series, where we are diving into what happens when things you love become heavy.
And how to recalibrate instead of muscling through and burning out. I'll see you then.
