Some days I think I am literally an insane person, and that means sometimes I forget that I am just one person and that sometimes I need to slow down.
This summer I worked upwards of 30 hours a week, while also taking three summer classes and also trying to have a social life and go to the gym on a regular basis. Guess what? I hit a wall this week and spent two miserable days feeling lethargic and unmotivated while having super negative thoughts. Usually, I can pop myself out of a slump pretty easily, but this time was different.
After thinking about it, I realized that what I needed was a day to myself. I have just gotten a day off after working and also a full month in a row - don't try that at home kids - and I knew that one day off wasn't going to cut it, so I did something that I hadn't done all summer and I actually slept in.
In being the insane person I am, I like getting up pretty early because I feel like if I stay in bed too long then I'm wasting the day away. But today I snoozed my alarm and let myself drift back to sleep without worrying about what would happen if I slept too long, and wow did that make a huge difference. After that extra time in bed, I felt so much better. I didn't feel sick at all during the day and I had some extra energy that night to do some extra workouts to tire myself out.
Sometimes in the hustle of daily life, we forget how fragile our bodies actually are. It is easy to break a bone, trip and sprain your ankle, or do something so simple that can change your mood so quickly. We don't realize how much we take our bodies for granted and how we test them every day to see how far they can take us.
Yoga has been a great help this past week. Once I realized how hard I was being on my body, I knew I needed to take some time to reconnect to this thing that is the reason that I exist. Now, every day I try to do at least 15 minutes of yoga, just to stretch myself out and make myself mindful of how much hard work I make my body do every single day.
Taking time out of your day is important for both physical and mental health. It helps you reconnect with your body and really helps you listen to the parts of yourself that may be struggling.
I am happy with my body and happier with myself since I started listening to it more often. It helps me realize that every once in a while I need to just sit down, turn off my brain, and just breathe - since sometimes I forget to do that anyway. Our bodies are the most important part of our self and that is why we always need to treat it with the utmost respect.
