Here in the UK we are experiencing a mini-heatwave. Currently the temperature outside is 32°C, but Amy the cat and I are enjoying the relative coolness of indoors with an ice chilled drink.
Staying cool is a must today. I raced competitively in swimming yesterday and we're due hot weather again tomorrow. My body is telling me to rest and only carry out light duties.
In short, I have given myself the day off!
As a former chronic fatigue/burnout sufferer, giving myself permission to see the bigger picture and make choices based on that is a big deal!
Responding to life differently
My background is in high achieving academics and competitive sport. It's the "quitting is for loosers" and "you get back what you put in" mindset.
The trouble is, as a kid I put in a lot in lots of different areas of my life and I didn't know when to stop! I thought 100mph was the only way to live. I was up at 6am every week day to go swim training, I only learnt about "lie ins" when I was 14 and was barely idle for a moment.
It was a very enriched life, but by age 11 I was already showing signs of chronic exhaustion. By age 16 I was falling asleep at school. By the time I got to uni and started to address the situation, I had spent 7 years battling with fatigue - and I was only 18!!
Along the way I had ignored a number of stop signs given to me by my body, and had focused on only one thing, that more is better.
Rehabilitating myself out of the situation I had created was a minefield. I hadn't a clue where to start and neither did the doctors I asked for help from.
My rehabilitation story is a long one, but in the context of today, in short I learnt to listen to my body more than I did my thinking.
Today my thinking says I should "work" and my body says rest. My soul is urging me to look at the bigger picture - what is the cost of resting versus not resting? What do I really want, if I am brutally honest.
The answer is rest, but the mild compromise is this blog post! Despite my mind saying I "should" be pushing myself harder, I am choosing to thank it for it's contribution and honour the whole of me (the ultimate description of holistic health!).
Tomorrow is a new day and I get to make a new choice. I am thankful for the experiences of my younger years teaching me what imbalance looks like. It is easy to say that being so ill was a blessing, but having been through and come out the other side, I can say that now.
I hope that whatever "weather" life is throwing you at present, you too can see it is impermanent and that we have a choice with how we respond.
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