Self care isn't selfish

REST// It’s only been since COVID started 3 years ago that I’ve started to really appreciate the value of rest.

I have always been the type to “power through” illness, pretty much ignoring it is there. I have taken very little sick leave. Instead, I’d come into work because I was anxious about letting people down, yet at the same spreading my cold near and far.

Even outside of work, I am a busy person, always thinking about the next thing I have to do. Our COVID isolation was spent doing all the house chores I hadn’t done. Despite feeling like death 💀 I keep moving.

All the posts I write are inspired by a problem I relate to and need to find perspective on.

But this one is more than the others. I really need to work on stepping away from the frenetic pace of life.

In some ways COVID helped us to see how busy we all are, but now as we return to normal, I find myself wishing I had ‘permission’ to spend another week at home.

I remember listening to self control expert, Professor Roy Baumeister at a conference years ago and he talked about the importance of rest when we are sick. His research suggested that when we prematurely go back to work, our body is still fighting off the disease.

This process of kicking a disease takes enormous energy, and our energy is not finite. When energy is depleted we struggle with self control. Think how grumpy we can all get when we have a cold or what it means to be hangry.

This week I trying my best to take my time and recover from COVID. Some things I am trying:

🌟Cutting my to do list in half (I don’t think I can handle doing away with it completely!)

🌟Prioritising couch time at the end of the day

🌟Playing with the kids - they are much better at resting, I can learn from them

🌟Appreciating nature when I can - looking at a gum tree can be so restorative