What if less is actually MORE?

Growing up in the 90s, the height of the cultural fitness and wellness trends of 'grinding it out' and pushing ourselves to the max, I held this idea that more had to equal better. This belief stuck with me for most of my life and well into motherhood.

When self care and wellness became more of a priority again after my 3 babies were born, I found these old stories slowly creeping back in. If I could run 3 miles, I should probably do 4. If I could go to yoga once a week, I should probably make it 3. If I could meditate for 3 minutes then 20 had to be better.

The problem? This kind of binary thinking, more has to be better, less can't be enough, keeps us stuck. Because the "more" is almost always unsustainable, which leads to burnout, which leads to not showing up for ourselves at all.

And here's the thing: I see this pattern with so many of my clients. It's one of the most common blocks they come in with.

In my private coaching container, I work with women on creating small yet doable routines (including meditation and breathwork) that fit into their lives in order to stay consistent. It's an approach I call Gentle Devotion. And one of the things new clients ask me all the time is "how is that enough?" Meaning how is 1-3 min of meditation or breathwork a day 'enough' to make positive change.

Here's what I tell them:

It's not about the length of the practice or how it looks, but how it feels in our bodies. 1-3 min of consistent practice will ALWAYS be more beneficial than a longer practice done sporadically. By setting small yet easily doable goals, we are literally rewiring our brains to believe that we can show up for ourselves and that we keep our own word. 

Conversely, setting bigger goals that we end up quitting teaches our brain the opposite, often times reaffirming negative self talk that we're not good enough and can't stay consistent.

I always give clients longer practices in their library as well (each client has access to a private library in their portal as well as my full content catalogue), but with the idea that the shorter practice counts just as much. The idea is lowering the bar as to what our idea of enough looks like.

Longer practices are beautiful and beneficial AND they are not the only way.

Let's stop telling ourselves that showing up for ourselves needs to look a certain way, be a certain length, etc. Let's instead extend compassion so that we are able to show up as our best selves.

Because shame will never be the way to create meaningful change.

With love,

Kari

Feel like this is your time? Schedule a call here and let's chat.

P.S. I am  opening a waitlist for a long-anticipated group coaching program. More details will be shared soon, but if you would like to be the first to hear about it, you can add your name here.