The (self-)Maintenance Team - November 2023

For The (self-)Maintenance Team this month, I have a mea culpa. I don't have a post ready to go this week. I got sick with a respiratory virus at the top of the month and was out of commission for 10 days.  I'm doing okay now, though I'm still in the recovery phase. My last couple of posts had been written in advance, which gave me some grace, but now I'm trying to catch up on a lot of things that were on hold while I was sick and I find myself needing to prioritize. So, that's what I'm doing.

In prioritizing where I'm going to spend my limited time and energy this month, I realized that I don't have the energetic budget to write the kind of blog post that I would consider "up to standard." And in realizing that, I had a choice to make: do I simply skip the post this week, or do I show my work and role model what self-care can look like? I decided to go with the show and tell option.

It's okay that sometimes life gets overwhelming and you need to step back from pushing toward your goals. Giving 100% on a given day doesn't always look the same. There were a few days there where my 100% effort was spent fighting a fever and working really hard to breathe. I don't want to lose my momentum and there is a part of me that wants to push myself; but a wise part of me also knows that I'm in a marathon, not a sprint. There will be days to push, but there are also days to rest; there are days to hurry, and there are days to slow down. Right now, I'm working on getting back up to speed, but I'm not there yet and my recovery will actually be helped by allowing my plans to relax a little and adapt to these unexpected events.

I do my best each day, but not every day looks the same.

Being unkind to myself or denying myself needed rest won't help me to reach my goals.

Pacing myself and being flexible about how I reach my goals will increase my likelihood of success in the long-run.

So, here's to self-care! Rest, rather than hustle. That's what The Self-Maintenance Team is all about.

I hope you find some time to rest this week too.

Take care and I'll see you next week,

Petrina

Photo by Emilie Iggiotti

If you live in Alberta, Canada, and would like to work with Petrina, please go to her website, Calder Mental Health Services, and reach out by sending an email or booking an appointment online.