A season of rest.

Heyoooo,

Ever met someone that says one thing but does another? Well, this is me but it’s me telling everyone I’m going to rest and recover and then doing the complete opposite… There’s something within me where I feel the need to do everything and to its extreme. I tell my friends every damn time, “you need to rest, you need listen to your body.” Yet I don’t give myself the same advice. What an absolute GOOOSE, right?! One of the best things I’ve heard is, “give yourself the same treatment and advice you’d give your best mate.” I say best mate, instead of ya regular friend because your friendship goes to a whole 'nother level, you treat them with gentle but strong and firm advice, giving them the honesty that they need to hear because you care.

In the last few months, I have been having a few physical issues. I have been seeing a bunch of professionals to fix them. Each and every time I get told, “you’re putting your body under too much stress,” “you need to learn how to rest,” “there’s a thing called balance, you should try it some time.” I always reply with, I don’t know what the words ‘rest’, ‘recover’ and ‘balance’ are. Denying the fact that I actually need to look after myself. I am a person that is either 100% in or not at all. An extremist you could say.

I love to keep myself busy and occupied all the time, I used to do it as a coping mechanism. I hated over-thinking and being by myself because that is when the thoughts would come in. However, now that I have become more comfortable with myself and started to find my worth, I am learning that you actually need to rest to achieve the things that you want to do. The whole “filling your cup” process, I just kept emptying myself whether it was exercising too much, working too much, socialising too much or partying too much.

I needed to learn how to stop and slow down, I still need to learn how to slow down. It’s something I have been working on and will continue to work on for what seems the rest of time. I easily become frustrated when I felt like my life was stagnate, everything around me was moving and going but I was just there standing amongst it all. Nothing was working, things didn’t seem to be going the way I wanted. I’ve now realised that my body and schedule change and fluctuates during different seasons. That in order to grow and flourish into the person I need to be, I need to rest, re-coop and re-evaluate what’s happening around me and for me. Becoming patient and trusting in what life has to offer me.

It’s time to acknowledge that rest isn’t weak, that in fact, it is needed to be your best self. Seasons in life change, depending on what is happening in your life will determine what is needed from you internally and externally. As much as we hate change, it’s going to happen one way or another so you may as well adapt accordingly rather than refuse and run yourself into the ground. For others, it might be the opposite to me. You might have had your resting period and now it’s time to shoot your shot, get up and move in whatever area of your life you need to.

There will be signs, whether it is your body telling you or those that surround you. You’ll be surprised how much people pick up on your energy. Those who are a true friend, will know what is needed for you. I have been told over five times in the last couple of months by multiple people that I need to chill out and listen to what my body is telling me. I hate it but I know that it is what needed. In the last few weeks I have started implementing this, as things drop off my plate, I don’t put anything else on it. Instead, I fill my cup with what is beneficial for me and what I need, which if you haven’t realised that is REST… lol.

So what is your body asking of you? What are those around you, who actually care about you and your health, telling you to do? Listen and learn. It hasn’t been as important as it is right now.

With love,

AC x