Give Yourself a Break
Between work, traveling to my sister's wedding, serving as her maid of honor, COVID scares, visiting with family, and everything else going on in the world, it's been a busy, overwhelming few weeks.
I wanted to talk about it because really, that's life: a combination of good things and not so good things, and sometimes all those things happen at once to make you feel stressed or drained or overloaded.
When that happens, if you have the ability to do so, the best thing to do is take a break and recharge.
We are so often conditioned to "keep going," "push through," "dig deep," "just do it." In reality, we're usually better served by not forcing ourselves to push past stress and exhaustion.
Stress -- defined as emotional or physical tension -- can be positive. When we exercise, for example, we place stress on our muscular and cardiovascular systems in order to make them stronger. The stress of physical activity is what creates the growth.
The negative effects of stress occur when we overdo it, don't allow proper rest and recovery, or experience chronic stress over a long period of time.
[More on stress and its effects here.]
Many times, we can't control our stressors. Pandemic, job loss, death of a loved one, trauma -- of course we would avoid those if we could!
What we can do (or at least try) is to give ourselves the time and space and rest to work with and around it, instead of trying to "push through" like it doesn't exist.
I've worked with many clients who were in the midst of major life upheavals, not to mention the every day stressors, who blamed themselves for "failing" to have enough willpower and determination to stick with a workout or nutrition program.
When you're going through something difficult -- or something good but overwhelming! -- you don't need to willpower to "stay on track." You need to give yourself the grace and understanding to know that "staying on track" isn't the main priority in that moment.
As humans, we have great capacity to handle everything that's thrown at us. We can do and achieve so much but not without allowing ourselves the time and space to restore and recharge.
"Pushing through" anyway might actually do more harm than good.
In my own life, for example, I stick with a pretty consistent workout routine (not including my teaching). I'm a creature of habit and I like my program! When one of my friends passed away last year, I tried to keep up with my routine for a sense of normalcy, just modifying the exercises and weights to account for the stress and exhaustion I felt physically. It was still too much. My body was under so much duress that adding additional exertion and stress from exercise, even exercise that was less intense than normal, led to several days of extreme muscle pain.
Even positive things, like traveling for a family wedding or hosting friends and family, can leave us feeling wiped out, and it's important to give ourselves a day or so to recover so we don't risk injury.
Remember, the point of movement and food is to help ourselves live our fullest lives. If you're feeling physically, mentally, or emotionally fried, that's normal. Resting doesn't mean you're weak, soft, or unproductive -- it means you're taking good care of yourself, and that's something to celebrate.
