Productivity and the feeling that you need to always be doing something or look busy can be a real struggle. When I recommend self care activities to clients and over several weeks they continue to come back and tell me they didn’t do it because… XYZ, I realize that this is just very difficult for them.
Inability to Relax
If you are a Type B personality, you might have no understanding of why Type A personalities struggle to relax. Yet when you are wired to be busy all the time, it’s easy to always feel behind, to feel like you’re not accomplishing enough, and to feel the need to hustle in order to experience your day as meaningful. At the end of the day, Type A’s will evaluate all they did, and if they don’t feel productive enough, they will likely see themselves as not winning their day.
How To Combat This
I recommend setting some realistic expectations in areas that involve productive chores as well as self care, rest, play, exercise, etc. Then when you look at your day you’re not just evaluating yourself on the tasks you accomplished, but also on your self-care, health goals, connection and play too. When clients are able to implement this, they feel more balanced and less resentful that they don’t have time for themselves. It requires us being in charge of our schedule versus letting our day run us!