As a graduate student I have the tendency to run myself
ragged. There seems to be this little
voice in the back of my head saying “you don’t have time to sit around!” I come home from school or work and feel that
I have to do more, clean my apartment or finish a paper. This voice criticizes me for taking a break
to watch TV or take a nap, telling me “you need to be more productive!” Usually I can keep this up for a couple of months
until the end of the semester when my body finally surrenders and I get sick. I think this is my body’s way of forcing me
to slow down.
Lately however, I have been starting to challenge myself in
this area. Maybe it’s the fact that
graduation is so near or that I’m simply tired of my scheduled colds, but I
have started to practice truly listening to my body. When I’m tired I take a nap, when I’m hungry
I take a break to eat, when my body asks me to sit on the couch and watch
reruns of the Brady Bunch I do it. I
have found that the more in tune I am with my body, the more I respect what it
needs, and the more I respect it’s needs, the more my body is able to give back
to me. By giving my body the breaks that
it needs on a regular basis, it is able to give me the energy and concentration
I need to really be present at work and school.
For me this not only applies to giving my body physical
breaks, but mental ones too. I don’t
feel like it’s really a break when I go for a walk and spend the whole time
stressing out about work I need to get done.
When I get back from the walk I feel no more rejuvenated or motivated
than when I left. My mind needs just as
much breaks as my body, to go on Facebook or read a good book (not in the form
of a textbook). So I challenge you to
take the time to listen to your own body.
You might be surprised at how much it has to say!
By: Kaitlyn Gitter
Kaitlyn -
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement to listen to my body. The time it would take to nap or walk or relax is nothing compared to the time I have wasted being sick!!!
I have the same exact problem! My manager/productive part fights with my chillaxed part, which ends up with no relaxing and no work getting done either! Time for these 2 parts to sit down at the board room table for a chat!
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