When life gets busy, why are we the first thing to go?

September always feels like a bit of a reset, doesn’t it?

Summer is done, everyone’s back, work gets busy again and suddenly the diary that looked vaguely manageable a few weeks ago is ridiculous.

And I hear this quite a lot:

“I really want to come back, I’m just so busy.”

Or, “Life’s a bit much at the moment.”

I completely understand it. When you’ve got too much going on, taking an hour out to do Pilates can feel like the least important thing on the list. There are jobs to finish, people who need you, things you’ve forgotten to do and probably a washing machine beeping somewhere.

But I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, because it’s usually when life feels like that that we need that hour the most. And that’s really what this is about... Pilates and stress, and why making time to move can matter even more when life feels completely full.

Pilates and stress when life already feels full

I don’t think we always give ourselves enough credit for just how much we’re dealing with at this stage of life.

For a lot of women, especially during mid-life, there’s work, children, parents, relationships, changing hormones (yes we see you perimenopause and menopause bed fellows), sleep that isn’t what it used to be, bodies that suddenly seem to have their own opinions about things... and all the usual life admin on top.

Anxiety and that feeling of being constantly “on” comes up in conversations at Pausa more than you might think.

And no, an hour of Pilates isn’t going to make all of that disappear. But it can give you an hour away from it.

That matters.

Sometimes you need somewhere to go

One of the things I love about our classes is that for that hour, there isn’t really anything else you can be doing.

You’re on your mat. I’m telling you what to do (which is quite nice when you spend the rest of your life making decisions), there’s music on and there are other women around you getting on with it too.

You move. You concentrate. You might wobble. You’ll probably laugh at some point (ok you will because I'm that funny). And gradually, the noise in your head turns down a bit.

I think that’s a big part of why people often leave class feeling different to when they walked in. Yes, you’ve moved your body and worked your muscles, but you’ve also had an hour where you haven’t been responsible for everything else.

Someone actually dropped me a little thank you note the other week because they’d had a really rough day and the session was exactly what they needed. I love that for them.

Not because I think Pilates fixes a rough day. Sometimes a rough day is going to be a rough day regardless sadly. But for that hour they got to leave it at the door, move their body, be around other people and come out feeling a bit better than when they went in.

That’s a pretty good use of an hour if you ask me.

And then there are the people

This bit is really important to me.

Pausa isn’t about walking into a silent room, doing your exercises and disappearing again.

People chat. We laugh. We get to know each other. If you’ve had a rubbish week, you don’t have to pretend you haven’t.

There are no mirrors and nobody cares what you look like doing Pilates. Nobody is checking whether your leg is as high as somebody else’s. We’re all far too busy trying not to fall over.

There’s something really restorative about being in a room with other women and just being yourself for a while. I think we need more of that.

But I genuinely AM too busy

Fair enough. I hear you (and know it all too well).

Sometimes life really is that busy. I’m not going to tell you to “prioritise yourself” as though you can magically delete half your responsibilities and spend Tuesday afternoon having a bath.

But maybe it’s worth looking at that one hour differently.

Rather than Pilates being another thing you have to fit in, perhaps it’s one of the things that helps you deal with everything else.

You’re looking after the body that is getting you through all of this. You’re building strength. You’re moving. You’re getting out of your own head for a bit. You’re seeing people. And you’ve done something that was just for you.

That’s not nothing.

Fancy joining in?

If you're one of my lovely ladies already sharing gigles and painful glutes with me then whoop I love that you're part of Pausa! For all you other ladies reading this - I’ve got a few beginner spaces available at Pausa at the moment, and September is actually a lovely time to start.

Please don’t wait until you’re fitter, more flexible, less busy or life has somehow completely sorted itself out. You could be waiting a while.

You don’t need to know anything about Pilates before you come. You don’t need to be bendy. And you definitely don’t need to arrive feeling confident. Just come as you are.

Life will still be waiting for you when the hour is over.

But you might feel a bit more like yourself when you go back to it.

Abi x