Summer has ended and Fall is here. This means all organizations that have been dormant throughout the summer are in the process of cramming in all of their programs and events before the holiday season. After only a few weeks, I am exhausted. Between working hard to close out the billable year at work and remaining active in local bar associations and other extracurricular organizations, I find myself worn out and depleted. Last week, I had an event planned for every day of the week and I did not want to go to any of them. But, I forced myself to go. Big mistake.
One night, I was at a local political fundraiser attended by people from my law firm. I was standing and chatting with some of my co-workers when one of the local political heavy-hitters arrived and began working the room and shaking hands. When he arrived at my group, I tried to make eye contact and put my hand out but he walked right past me to the person next to me. I stood there as he shook the hands of everyone in the group except me. I was stunned, but quickly composed myself and threw my hand into the mix to say hello. He almost seemed shocked to see me standing there but shook my hand with a big smile on his face. I knew he did not do that on purpose and had no reason to intentionally ignore me. So, what happened? At that moment, my energy of “I do not want to be here” was so strong that he couldn’t even see me. My negative energy literally repelled him from me.
I immediately knew that I needed to take a step back and reevaluate my priorities. Yes, we all have organizations we are members of and are required to attend various meetings and events. But we shouldn’t do these things at the expense of our spiritual health.
Prioritize which meetings are necessary and be willing to say no to the ones that are not vital to your membership. If you want to go to events every night of the week and that brings you joy, then, by all means, go! But if you are exhausted and dreading attending an event and forcing yourself to go, it is more likely than not that you will regret it.
Some of us get lost in our professional careers, organizations and responsibilities and forget to take care of ourselves. We often prioritize these activities over ourselves. Accordingly, the Universe responds by attracting more events and meetings into our lives until we make a better choice. It is not a coincidence that my schedule filled up at an alarming rate and caused me to be so stressed out. It was the Universe’s way of showing me that I had a choice to make myself a priority and say no. I stubbornly ignored this at first and it wasn’t until I actually had the experience of feeling invisible that I realized that it was mirror into how I was actually treating myself.
The bottom line is: if you don’t see yourself as a priority, others may not see you at all. So, give yourself a break so that you can actually enjoy and look forward to events and people can look forward to seeing you.
