Your Nervous System Doesn't Care About Your To-Do List

When my husband is traveling and my mother-in-law is off pet-sitting, I can end up with a rare few days with the house all to myself which you might think would mean life gets quieter.

You clearly haven't met me 🙃

For some reason, whenever I find myself with the house to myself, I suddenly become convinced that this is the perfect opportunity to tackle every little thing I've been meaning to get to for weeks.

Dropping off Amazon returns at the post office
Breaking down cardboard and taking it to the dump
Hanging up solar lights along the side of the house
Fixing up and staining all the little notches and scratches in the hardwood floor
Cleaning the outside of the house

And that's just what I did the first day! 😂

The funny thing is, I actually started the day with a plan. I was going to take it easy. No rushing. No marathon productivity. Just slow, steady, consistent progress because, after all, I had the whole week. There was no hurry.

And yet somehow one task became another, which became another, which became another, and before I knew it I glanced at the clock and realized it was after eight o'clock at night. I hadn't really sat down for hours. I'd barely touched my water bottle. I'd forgotten to eat.

Oops.

It wasn't until I sat down with my journal that evening and started writing out everything I'd accomplished that I realized just how ridiculously long the list actually was.

Apparently my definition of "taking it easy" needs a little work 😊 But it did make me realize something profound:

Our minds measure tasks while our bodies measure the actual effort.

And those are two very different ways of experiencing the exact same day.

Mentally, every task felt small. Physically, my body had been in motion for eight hours. My brain kept saying, "It's just one more thing," while my body had been whispering for quite a while that maybe one more thing was enough.

I just wasn't listening.

One of the things I have learned over the years is that emotional resilience isn't just about learning to regulate your emotions. It's about learning to listen to all of yourself.

Your mind has a voice.
Your emotions have a voice.
Your body has a voice.

The mind is wonderfully optimistic. It thinks we are invincible. It believes we can squeeze twelve hours into eight and somehow still have enough energy left over to reorganize the pantry before bed.

Our emotions can be just as persuasive. Depending on the day, they may tell us everything is amazing or convince us we are failing at life before we've even had breakfast.

Your body, on the other hand, is way less dramatic. It simply tells you what is.

"I'm thirsty."
"I'm tired."
"I need protein."
"I need to sit down for ten minutes."
"I could keep going... but I'd rather not."

And better I get at paying attention to what it is saying, the more I am realizing that consistency isn't really about forcing myself to do more. It's about creating a rhythm my nervous system can actually trust.

When I eat consistently...
When I sleep consistently...
When I move consistently...
When I rest consistently...

...my nervous system can begin to settle because it knows that I am paying attention. That I am listening.

That I am someone it can rely on.

Maybe consistency isn't another thing to add to the to-do list. Maybe it's simply a relationship built through hundreds of tiny decisions that quietly say to your nervous system, "Hey, I've got you."

And perhaps that is one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves. To become someone our own nervous system can count on.