Capacity: the potential or suitability for holding, storing or accommodating
Now I’m going to be really honest with you, though I ended my last email to you with the optimistic statement of ‘the best is yet to come’ over the past few weeks I have felt like a ticking time bomb.
Yes, I’m mindful that I’m in a time of change, but what I hadn’t planned for, because honestly, no one can plan for this, were the unexpected changes that would come for me. These were mainly in my business and with my clients but the impact these changes have had, in addition to the ones I had seen coming almost broke me.
Now, as things have begun to settle, and with the gift of reflection, I realised I have been incredibly hard on myself during these challenging weeks. I forgot to tune into my understanding of capacity and the impact it can have on my health and well-being. I have a clear understanding of my capacity. I know how much I can take on and what can suffer when I add too much to my plate. I know what I can easily shift to gain some breathing room and I know what only I can do. But over the past few weeks, I defaulted into old habits and took it all on, causing many explosions along the way.
Capacity is different for all of us and we carry different levels of capacity. It is what we can physically do, the actions and reactions of our physical selves. It can be what we learn and create with our mental capacity and it can also be what we share and experience emotionally. These categories can change at different points in time, though if we are not aware of our capacity we can take on too much and burn out, physically, mentally, emotionally or in a way that combines all of these elements.
Over the past few years, I’ve used the word capacity to express why I choose to say no and why I set boundaries. I’ve also chosen to identify the capacity of others and respect their choices when it is clear that they may not have the capacity to show up or act in a way that I wish they would.
So I ask you, do you have an understanding of your capacity and are you mindful of the capacity of those around you? Being mindful of this could be an opportunity to create some harmony in your day-to-day life, be it with yourself or the people around you.
