Why do we expect so much of ourselves?

Guest Blog by Meg Campbell

I ponder this question often as I know that my expectations of myself do not always serve me. I continue to be surprised at what I try to achieve on any given day. Even as I become more and more aware of my needs and how important it is to nurture myself, I still allow myself to be stretched with commitments. I think women these days put tremendous pressure on themselves to do 'everything'-have a career; keep house; be a caring , loving mother/wife/partner/daughter etc; maintain significant friendships......the list goes on.

Recently I headed away on a family holiday-the last as a family of three! I'm 30 weeks pregnant now and had been looking forward to this break for months. Rather than slow down and prepare myself for our trip, I jammed in as much as I could before our departure. As a result, I found myself sick 2 days before we were due to leave and for the first 4 days of our time away.  The ironic thing is that I always advise people to slow down prior to their holiday to avoid falling in a big heap when they actually stop!

This experience was so disappointing but yet another reminder that I need to honour and respect myself always; I will continue to focus on balance in my life, daily movement and quality nutrition and try not to overcommit myself as I often do. It’s true what they say, “If you don’t have your health, you have nothing”!