[𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟏] 𝐆𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞
𝟐𝟏 𝐃𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐦𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐕𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐢𝐝𝐰𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐲
[𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟏] 𝐆𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞
(𝘐𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘹𝘵: 𝘐 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘈𝘶𝘨𝘶𝘴𝘵, 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳)
Rain is coming. It’s not going to sort out the drought because when rain falls on the dry ground it slides off rather than sinking in and causes flooding. This is like rest for me. If i’ve had a rest drought when I eventually rest I end up not being able to do anything at all. I’m flooded with all the hormones that have been built up behind the barrier, or that’s how it seems.
There are lots of ways of resting. Yoga and meditation, hanging out with friends, cooking. Reading, watching TV. There’s a book called Burnout that suggests if you’ve been working really hard and you suddenly stop that can be difficult, and sometimes you need a job like sanding and varnishing a table, knitting something for your nephews, etc. as the ‘methadone’ program, to slowly wean you on to proper rest.
I get my resting kicks from doing an online shop. I hate supermarket shopping in real life, it’s an underestimated challenge, not only do you have to meal plan and make a list, you then have to rewrite it in order of what’s where in the shop. Or else you will inevitably forget stuff. I feel like I’m getting away with something when doing a Tesco shop online. I’m interested in food and cooking, always have been. Nigella Lawson says she’s greedy and I relate to that.
Hopefully, I can move through the active rest stage to the actual rest stage. I’m very bad at taking holidays, I’ve taken 1 week off from my business/midwifery since 2014 but my days at home writing are slower than midwifery in the hospital (how could they be anything else) so I always think they barely count.
I have a good friend who’s moving in around the corner and is currently pregnant. We used to do yoga together. Maybe we still could. She’s an NHS person too. Perhaps we could learn how to actually rest together, something I hear is essential when you have a kid, as they learn from you, and no one wants an overtired and over wired baby. And here I am again. I always end up learning the most from people becoming parents.
All my best,
Ellie
