Permission to rest.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012
I had big plans to write a post about gender roles and their potrayal in the media today, but that's been thrown out the window (or at least placed gently to the side) for now, as I ended up having a migraine.
I recognised the signs during my second class of the day - I was having trouble concentrating on what they lecturer was saying and wanted nothing more than to put my head down on the desk and have it magickly turn into my bed (at home.. not in the lecture theatre. that would be weird! XD). I had a bit of a relaxing time after the class finished while I was waiting for my mum to finish work (carpool!), and was just reading a lovely book.


I have really begun to learn how to listen to my body and it's demands. I know when it really needs rest, and when I can push through. I also know when there are times that pushing through will result in much pain later on.
But in terms of actually DOING something about these things, I'm still learning.
See, there are people out there that don't listen to their bodies at all. They push and they push until suddenly they get sick and they turn around and go "but I NEVER get sick!". They don't know how to deal with this new situation.
And then there are others, like me, who have learnt to listen to their bodies. (Mostly because they're shouting at us XD). I'm not saying everyone in the world fits neatly into these two categories of people, by the way, just bear with me here.
We can hear that our bodies are saying 'it's time to rest now!' 'wouldn't lying down be a good idea right about now?', and so on and so forth. But sometimes we try to reason with it. "If I can just get this bit of homework done", "if I can just finish the housework" - we feel we need to EARN this rest, so we won't feel as guilty when we take it.
There's many issues in Western society surrounding the notion of 'entitlement'. Advertising shouts at us that we deserve a chocolate break, we deserve a holiday with that bottle of ice-cold beer, and what about that lovely luxury icecream that we deserve because we've been WORKING SO HARD. Our ideals surrounding entitlement and deserving things has been warped. We will treat ourselves to chocolate and then feel bad about it later.
But what about when rest is truly needed? We don't know what to do with ourselves. How can we possibly rest? What does that even mean? Does it mean throwing ourselves down in front of the television and watching our 'guilty pleasure' (another phrase I dislike) programs til our eyes cross? Is it sleeping all the time?


I had more of a rant planned for this but my migraine is returning, so I'll just leave you with this. If you were to rest RIGHT NOW, what would you do?


Love to all who read. <3



4 comments:

  1. I'm one of those weird people that listen to their bodies too, and worse, I obey! I've learnt not to fight it, but sometimes it can be really inconvenient for other people who don't understand why I won't push myself because I need to eat/sleep/rest/drink-herbal-tea NOW.

    When I get migraines I listen to Audio books :) helps me sleep during the day which I find hard.

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    Replies
    1. Very occasionally I'm like that. It's so very difficult to get people to understand that if I don't get what I need I AM GOING TO FALL OVER. I find often people think I'm exaggerating - and that's fine. If they want to think that, it's okay.

      I think, since I started working and studying again, I'm really having to re-learn how to listen to my body and know when I need to slow down. And not feeling guilty about that.

      I listened to a sample of Alain de Botton's essays on love on the night I wrote this! I'm trying to get into them a bit more - they're just a bit expensive right now!

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  2. So much love and hugs to you~

    I would totally rest. Then, my body will give me maybe even a whole extra spoon more for being kind to myself, as well as others.

    ~ Jess

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    Replies
    1. Love and hugs right back at you!! <3

      You're right. I think I got lost a bit somewhere along the way and forgot about my spoon quota - thanks for reminding me <3

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