Free time vs Availability - how to honor your time, energy and inner freedom

The other day I saw a quote on social media that had me yelling "Omg YES!!" It said:

"Let's normalize not confusing someone's free time with their availability." ~ Broderick Hunter

And isn't that such a perfect quote to reflect on and integrate during Mercury Retrograde?

Scheduling, technology, and communication snafus and mishaps tend to mark this astrological transit, all in the name of getting us to slow down, reflect, re-evaluate and recommit to showing up in ways that support our Alignment with Who We Really Are, and take away from it.

Overextending ourselves, saying yes out of obligation, and putting the assumed well-being of another at the cost of our own are some of the most common ways we disconnect from ourselves and our purpose, and the above cultural story about "free time" is a big influence over that.

So if this has you yelling "Omg, YES!" as well, I encourage you to commit or re-commit right now to never again forcing yourself to come up with a justification or white lie as to why you are not available for something that you have the actual physical time for.

Practice simply saying no, without even offering a why - the pause after the word no is so powerful, even if it’s uncomfortable at first. And if you’re really bold and brave, practice saying “I’m not feeling it but thank you” or “Thank you but I don’t want to” and then give the space for the pause, and allow the other their own experience of your choice.

And consider this, even if the people in your life are initially not fans of your new radical honesty and commitment to honoring yourself, they are most likely responding from a place of frustration or sadness over their own perceived limitations around being able to honor themselves.

Trust that it WILL plant a seed for them to give themselves permission to do the same... eventually... and over time we can eradicate this really stupid and exhausting cultural norm. We can then co-create a new norm that says it is entirely okay to take care of your time and energy the way you see fit as well as honor that in others, without justification, explanation, or anything that is not rooted in trust and inner freedom.

I don't know about you, but the idea of living in a world where that is the common vibe excites the hell out of me.

I am putting together more "Alignment Break" videos as we speak and I'd love your help! What questions do you have, what particular aspects of the conscious, spiritual journey, Alignment, energy and vibration do you struggle with the most?

Send me an email with your question(s) and I will strive to answer it in a future video! Feel free to speak to your specific situations and experiences as well, as contextualizing often helps us all get bigger, headier concepts.