Well, it’s been a minute since I wrote a blog post. A few weeks in fact.
Why?
There is no real reason, no hard stop, just a culmination of a few things that required me to slow down, take note and rest.
Covid
Over Christmas our home and family had Covid and it was certainly an experience I don’t wish on others.
Brent and Hamish had really mild symptoms and recoved easily. Which I’m so grateful for. Ronan had Covid two weeks prior and he too managed to get through some really rough days, but thankfully seemed healthy and well. Shaun then got covid just after New year so in essence, we had 6 – 8 weeks of isolation and illness.
I had, a week prior to contracting Covid, had been in hospital to get treated for some blood clotting issues and Covid was not kind to me at all. Some days I couldn’t lift my head off the bed to even try to walk as my oxygen levels were so low, but nonetheless, I was not contagious after 14 days.
My symptoms, however, lasted well into the middle of January and even now. I’m still overcome out of nowhere with sudden exhaustion.
Not one to stop, I continued to push my body beyond its capabilities.
Work
With my quarantine over and a looming backlog of work not to mention new deadlines and clients, I jumped back in straight away.
It would honestly have been wiser to rest, heal my body but when do moms or entrepreneurs ever rest?
So, once again, I found myself pushing limits that seemed beyond my reach. Overwhelmed and frustrated that the small things were exhausting me or taking longer because my brain honestly felt it was shutting down, I would then get anxious about not getting enough down leafing me to get absolutely nothing done.
Rest
Looking at this pattern I knew I needed to take some pressure off myself.
I needed to clear my schedule and take the weeks off that I’d been promising myself since early October last year.
So, we rested.
I cleared my schedule, focusing on keeping our social media pages consistent and a bit of self-care.
Self care
In my case, the self-care was:
- To recognize the signs of exhaustion from my body and slow down
- Rest when I needed to and nap if my body needed it (something I never do)
- Stop my work schedule and rest my mind.
- Delegate more housework and childcare in my home
- Take more time in nature
- Trust my body to heal from long covid and to help it by reading the signs
Back to work
I’m officially back at work. Slower but still here. I’m enjoying writing and creating content again and I’ve learned to prioritize my workload, including turning down clients and work if I need to.
This may seem counter-productive, but currently knowing my limits and the workload that I can manage is vital to be working to the best of my ability and honestly, the only work I’ve turned down so far this year, has been unpaid campaigns.
My conclusion
I think the last few years have been hard on so many, especially moms as we often carry our families, shoulder the weight of our homes as we try to balance our work and personal life, and sadly this means our own health and self-care falls lower on our priority radar.
2020 saw us panic and jump into survival mode as we safeguarded our loved ones from the unknown pandemic. That fight or flight instinct can produce PTS and we, as a generation, face a new level of mental health issues related to Covid.
Then in 2021, we started to go through the motions and grieve all we had lost. Friends, family, hones, jobs, life…. Grief takes its toll on our bodies and minds and many of us are still trying to pick up the pieces of our hearts.
2022 …is our year of healing. It’s the year to find our inner peace and restore the balance so many of us have lost. It’s the year we try to recover and I want to remind you that it’s OK to take it slow, to start with small steps and slowly, day by day, just do your best.
