I don’t know about you… but I’m tired!
I don’t mean tired like I need a nap. I mean tired like “tired of systems that don’t work” kind of tired. Tired of “having to be resilient” tired. Tired of hearing about “work/life balance” tired. Tired of always feeling like I need the kind of “self-care that is really after care kind of tired. …”Tired of being tired.” And honestly, it feels like more than tired. This is a different kind of tired… a fatigue really. The kind that only a pandemic could bring out in us.
Now believe me this is not a complaint as much as it is an ongoing realization and unfoldment. (Here is an another kind of tired) I know we are all probably tired of hearing about the pandemic, but bear with me for a moment. There has been some incredibly informative and spiritually grounded awakening that happened throughout the pandemic, and even into today. Most of it probably won’t be fully realized for a long time and I believe, the impact of which will be studied for decades. Primarily, there has been a realization that the majority of us have had enough and we are tired of a system and framework that seems to go against life itself! At least, we are tired of an experience of life that hold a deep belief in systems and frameworks the seem to go against life itself.
One of the greatest challenges in our day and age might just be recognizing that the parts of life that seem to be working against life are actually working for life. In the case of us and the pandemic, Many of those things are working towards the crumbling of those parts of life that need to move out of the way. So while it doesn’t seem like these things are working for life, they really are. AND, at the same time, there are many of us, in many ways, still deeply attached to how things have been. It is often this attachment throughout society at adds the the impact of the parts of life that seem like the are working against us. However, the truth is these things are absolutely working for us in that they are accelerating the speed at which we all collectively decided when enough is really enough! Are we all really tired enough of being tired? Tried enough that we are willing to make real changes?
I’m not going to tell you to be resilient and pick yourself up by the boot straps, or put your nose to the grind stone and get back at it. That ain’t it! We’re not here for that. This pandemic-fatigue, the tired-of-being-tired that so many are experiencing is the proverbial smack upside the head that we have all truly, collectively, had enough.
Now is the part where I am supposed to give you all the answered; to tell you how we fix this all. Well… I don’t know. I don’t know how to implement new systems, new frameworks, new ways of life that do seem to work. What I do know is that we all have something to do with it. We all have something in our lives that is calling us to do differently; calling us to do in a way that does work. I think this starts with self-care. Not the pampering, candlelit baths, or essential oil messages, and not even the personal rest days to recuperate, or the weekly whatever-that-keeps-you-going kind of care. I’m talking about self-care that is “taking care of ourselves” in a way that doesn’t need SeLf-CaRe.
Realistically, this probably requires a shift for many of us from “doing the things we always do” to “doing the things that really matter.” - aligning ourselves with a life pulled by values. When we do things that align with our values; When we build lives for ourselves that aren’t draining; When we do the things that matter to us, these things rejuvenate us.
This doesn’t mean we won’t be doing things we’d rather not be doing. It doesn’t even necessarily mean up and quit your job. This simply means we are shifting our priorities, shifting out focus in life, to things that are restorative, inspiring, uplifting, rejuvenating!
So maybe it is time to ditch this after-care approach to self-care (because really, that is also based in the systems and frameworks that don’t seem to be working - “rest up so you can get back to work”), and let’s make self care a practice of building lives based around activities that energize and restore us.
What is one thing you can do this week that is re-energizing?