It’s Okay.
You woke up on the wrong side of the bed. You poured yourself a bowl full of cereal only to find out there’s no milk (in my opinion, the most tragic). Or maybe you just feel down and you can’t figure out for the life of you why that is. Why do you feel like this? And when will you feel like normal again?
The truth is, I can’t tell you why. Most of the time, I can’t even tell myself why. I’m going to be painfully real here and say that today was one of those days for me. I get them from time to time, but today was the first day in a long time that I just felt defeated. Naturally, I made it a point to get up, get dressed, and leave the house, scouring my brain for any little errands I needed to run just so I could feel more productive. But I felt empty. This didn’t make sense because I love errands more than a normal person should. I love driving around and having places to be and things to do. I love accomplishment. However, no matter what I tried to do to distract myself today, all I truly wanted to do was cry. And after the crying for no real reason subsided, I planned to eat the Rocky Road sitting in my freezer (that I’ve been so fiercely avoiding in attempts to eat healthier), and watch the last few episodes of Riverdale. I wanted a day pass.
And so I had one. After driving around town and checking all the tasks off my list, I put my hair up, grabbed my trusty pint of ice cream, and turned on Netflix. As perpetually lazy and uninspiring as that may sound, I needed it. I think so many of us get caught up in day to day business that we forget what it’s like to sit down and let ourselves veg. You think you don’t deserve it, but you do. In fact, it’s necessary that you give yourself these types of days. It’s a form of self love. You cannot possibly be the most energetic and hardworking version of yourself each and every single day if you don’t allow yourself the time to rest; to hold up your white flag for a few hours and to do what you love and revel in it.
Let me just say that for the past couple of weeks, I have been avoiding this very day; the first summer day (or half day) that I let myself be lazy. The truth is, I didn’t and don’t want to lose my momentum. I didn’t want to see myself as weak for giving myself the rest I needed. I’m not saying that I am this overworked, major stress-ridden person, but I stress myself out when I feel like I’m not doing enough. And it’s time to change that. Because it is okay to have days where you feel down for no reason. It’s okay to take a break when you’re stressed. It’s okay to have off-days. They don’t make you any less of a badass.
Although some hardcore athletes would probably slap my hand for typing this, rest days are vital. They are just as important as working out because they are allowing your muscles, bones, nerves, and tissue to rebuild themselves. They make you stronger. Just like rest from over stressing your body is imperative to prevent muscle strains and joint pains, the same goes for the parts of us that need to be tended to the most: our minds and hearts. We must allow them to recover.
NO, resting does not always equal to idleness. It could be whatever you want it to be, even if it’s something actually productive (writing, in my case). This time is yours, and it is not a waste of time. So whatever your outlet is, go to it. Everyone’s is different. Mine could be ice cream and yours can be salad, and that never hurt anyone, did it? Lie down and listen to music. Jog. Go for a drive. Sit in the pool. Go makeup free. Give yourself the luxury to regroup and recharge so that you can be a better you tomorrow.
“To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don’t grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float.”
Alan Watts
With love,
Emma
