An Honest Confession

My brain is so tired. 

There, I said it. I am keeping things real -- or perhaps more accurately, I am keeping things “real-er” than I usually do. 

When I went to write this week’s ezine, I realized I had no words of wisdom to impart. Usually I can look around me and find inspiration in a quote, or a world event, or just even in a recent experience. 

No such luck this week. No matter what I tried, I kept coming up empty. 

And then it occurred to me that there may be merit in sharing this personal truth with you. Maybe it doesn’t have to be more than that, at least right now. Because what I know for sure is that I am never, ever alone in my experience. I have learned over time that whatever I am going through, others are experiencing too. 

So here’s the tiny nugget of wisdom (or learning) that I will share today: when any aspect of you is tired, give yourself permission to rest. 

Shut your computer down.

Close your office door and close your eyes.

Go take a nap, for goodness’ sake. 

The truth is -- and there is much research-based evidence to support what I am about to say -- experiences that are coloured by uncertainty and unpredictability are exhausting. The fact is the world as we know it has been spinning in the space of energetic unknown for almost 6 months now. For those in my neck of the woods, we’ve only really felt it for about 3 months, but that’s three long months of uncertainty, unpredictability and generalized fear. Which is EXHAUSTING. 

So it’s time for a break. It’s time to rest. It’s time to shut things down and give yourself a minute or two or ten to let yourself catch up to this new reality. It’s time to stop pretending that all is well, and that we can just “pivot to a new normal” and not bother acknowledging the fatigue that is very present. 

I know; you’ve got responsibilities to meet. You’ve got folks that rely on you. There are things to be done. I totally get it, and I know you don’t want to let yourself or others down. Totally understandable. 

And yet, if you don’t rest, you’re going to let them and yourself down by default. Trust me when I say, none of your responsibilities are going anywhere. Which means they’ll be there when you’re done resting, and you are not serving anyone by trying to operate on fumes. 

So I will say it again: give yourself permission to rest. Cut yourself some slack. Take a break and breathe. And then, when you’re ready, hopefully you’ll have replenished your energy enough that you can continue where you left off.