Tag Archives: rest

More rest

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I’m going to physiotherapy. I’m going to massage therapy. I’m doing my stretches and exercises. And I’m still dealing with leg pain that gets triggered from standing. Until a week ago I could just sit for 5 minutes and the pain would fade. I could walk on the treadmill or up/downhill, and even run, and felt no pain… but after 3-5 minutes standing in the shower, shaving & brushing my teeth, or making food, the pain returned.

For the last week and a half, the pain has crept into activities where I’m mobile and moving, and then has been slow to subside, even when I sit.

So, I’ll keep doing my stretches, keep going to physio and massage, and even seek more medical help. What I’m also going to do is give my legs more rest. I’ve been pushing hard, I’ve seen amazing gains… but my body is telling me that it needs a break. I’m going to go easy on my legs, and give this issue some time to heal.

The power of rest

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A few days ago I felt a tickle in my throat. I have no idea if it’s just a placebo or if it actually helps, but when I feel a sore throat coming on, I start sucking chewable vitamin C likes they are throat lozenges and it seems to help. But this time I did something else, I spent the weekend napping and relaxing.

This has to be the most amount of time I’ve spent doing almost nothing in years. It was in no way a typical weekend. I had two 2+hour naps, and I spend most of the last 2 days horizontal. And I think I’m almost ready for bed. Normally a day like that would leave me wired before bed and unable to sleep. But my body needed the rest and I feel like I’ll fall asleep easily tonight.

The difference compared to other times like this is that this time I actually listened to my body. For so long I’ve tried to muscle through feeling run down. But this weekend I took my vitamins, I ate when I was hungry, and I rested. I usually do anywhere from 7,000 to 12,000 steps in a day. According to my watch, I took 713 steps today. If this was a regular thing, it would probably be a problem… but this is exactly what I needed, and I’m feeling good that I actually listened to my body and took the rest it required.

I’m ready to return to my full routine in high gear tomorrow!

Monday to Fried-day

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Getting up at 5am to start my routine, then doing a full day of work, I feel like I’ve got nothing left at the end of the day. The only saving grace is that my morning routine is fulfilling, it’s me doing something for me… Writing, a workout, and meditation. Except here I am at 8:30pm already lying in bed, writing instead of reading (like I said I would this morning).

Why? Because my morning routine feels too rushed now that I’m commuting to a gym rather than working out at home. Getting most if not all of my writing done now, in the evening, will make my morning a bit more enjoyable. And that’s a sacrifice I choose to make. My morning routine is the priority I want so that when I get to work, I can be the best I can be at work. And the price? My evenings.

From Monday night to Thursday night, evenings are about recovery. Limited activity, limited thinking. By Friday after work I’m still a bit fried… It’s not an active weekend night, it’s a reset night. Still, I prefer this to waking up later and trying to do things after a full day of work. I’d rather have my evening downtime so that my mornings are energized than not do my morning routine and then pack everything into the afternoon when I’m tired from work.

Energize the mornings, feel great at work, and crash in the evenings. This is what my work week looks like, and it works for me… even if I have to sneak a bit of my morning routine into the evening.

Batteries recharged

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Tomorrow is the last day of our winter break and I have to say that I feel fully ready to get back to work. January is probably my busiest month and if I’m honest, I was not looking forward to starting back after the break.

And now I’m ready.

I can’t say that I fully shut down, but I did so far more than usual, and I think that’s part of the reason I feel so recharged. It’s a little unfortunate that I’m figuring this out so late in my career. For example, I didn’t ignore email, but I realized that there really isn’t much that can’t wait for a response this coming Monday or Tuesday. So I let it go. Earlier in my career I would have felt compelled to respond right away, often unintentionally inviting another email and more work… when the need for a response was not urgent.

Both ‘letting go’ and ‘turning off’ are cathartic, refuelling. Understanding that not just my body but my brain also needs a break is the reason I’m ready.

But first, I have one more Sunday to enjoy.

Sick day

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Well, it got me. Despite my flu shot and doing my best to eat well, take my vitamins, get enough sleep, and stay healthy, I caught a cold this weekend. It started with a tickle in my throat Thursday night. I could feel my body fighting it on Friday during my conference session, and while I thought I got the better of it on Saturday, it proved to get the better of me on Sunday. Even taking Tylenol cold night time medication, I had a horrible sleep, waking up almost every hour completely congested and/or needing to go to the bathroom. I finally surrendered fully to it and booked the day off at 3am.

I’m not usually someone that can sleep in without getting a head-ache, but I didn’t even get up for breakfast until after 11am. The good news is that I think I’m over the worst of it. I haven’t had to pump more cold medication into me for almost 8 hours now, and I can breathe easily, with minimal sniffling. I’ll be sure to take some meds tonight before bed, and I should be (almost) back to normal tomorrow.

Reflecting back, I think it has been over a year since I’ve been sick with a cold. It has been a good run of staying healthy, and as I recover today, let’s hope I start a new healthy streak.

Weak-ends

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Sometimes the weekends just fly by. They are more like weak-ends rather than weekends. That’s not to say the weekend was bad, but simply that it flew by so quickly that it feels like it simply wasn’t long enough. Batteries don’t feel fully charged, I’m not feeling fully rested.

A couple weekends back I was very unproductive and mostly just rested. Yet, when the weekend was done I felt like I got what I needed out of the weekend. Last weekend I was a lot busier and still I felt like I had a good weekend.

This weekend I had a couple enjoyable events to attend, and I got a really good workout in, and still the weekend felt too short. Maybe it’s that I didn’t sleep well? Maybe it’s just entering June and knowing how much work is still to come before the summer break? Maybe it’s my age?

No matter the reason, I had a weak-end this past weekend, and I’m going to have to give myself some TLC to get through this week.

Shorter Work Weeks

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I loved having a 4 day weekend. It is long enough to make me question the 5 day work week. Who came up with that? And why do we still have them?

I don’t need regular 4 day weekends, but I’d love regular 3 day weekends, then add one more day on holidays.

Who else is ready to reexamine the work week? And while we are at it, I’m pretty sure student’s wouldn’t mind that schedule either. Maybe on average students wouldn’t miss as much school, and just as much work would get done.

It won’t happen before my career is over, but I hope that a 4 day maximum work week is something my kids get to enjoy.

Getting Rest

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It’s not always easy getting enough sleep. Sometimes, no matter how much I try, I feel like I’m not recharging my battery. I’m in bed early, and I wake up many times during the night. Or I actually get to sleep early and get a good night of rest one evening and then my body won’t let me sleep the next night.

Sleep doesn’t seem to accumulate as easily as lack of sleep. I can get a nice recharge from a few good nights in a row, but one bad night undermines that pattern and puts me in a deficit again.

I’m currently on a challenging cycle and it’s making my regular routine difficult, and exhausting. I’ve got to reset a positive sleep pattern, but if I’m honest… I’m off to a crappy start.

Afternoon rest

Well, I just flaked out for a couple hours. Thought I was going to head out grocery shopping and haven’t made it out yet. But today is the last day of the winter break and I’m grateful to be able to give myself some down time. My next 3 weeks are jam packed and so if I want to take a little afternoon nap today… well permission granted. 😀

My evening will include a bit of meal prep, and a bit of listening to my audio book. And an early bed time. Tomorrow will be a full day, in high gear, and the pace won’t stop. But today, I savour the quiet time, and enjoy the slower pace. That said, it’s time to get off the couch.

My focus on school begins tomorrow, and that will probably reflect in the topics I choose to write about. Afternoon naps will not be the topic of conversation in the coming days!

Recovery mode

The semester is over and the holidays have begun. Got my walk in with my buddy this morning and then came home and slept for almost 3 hours. I don’t usually take 3 hour naps, but I guess my body needed it. I’m just glad I didn’t have a full crash and get sick, which often happens this time of year.

But I’m older and a bit wiser. I didn’t let my almost 60 hour work week stop me from my healthy living routines. I didn’t skip meals because I was too busy. I didn’t miss taking my vitamins. And I still talked regularly to friends. So many times in the past I would get busy and just drop my positive routines.

That said, rest is also an important routine and while long naps are not part of my routine, letting myself crash for a bit and recover today has me feeling great as I begin the holidays.