Do you have any idea how tiring it is for your body to live in constant fight-or-flight, for years, maybe decades on end? I mean, do you really?

Probably not. We live in a society that values pushing, producing, and striving above all else. How could we ever understand that we are burning out our nervous systems in the process? Even when we experience the effects of burnout, like getting sick or even having a breakdown, we don’t always understand why. Usually we barely even allow ourselves time to recover, but instead force ourselves to “get over” whatever it is as soon as we can. All so we can get back to doing the very things that led to the issue in the first place!

It’s honestly not your fault. We aren’t taught to listen to our bodies, at all. In fact, society would quite prefer that we don’t, because it wouldn’t line up with the capitalist need for us to stay in constant productivity mode. If you know anything about indigenous culture, you know this isn’t the way we were intended to live. We are intended to live closely in harmony with the earth and her cycles, the elements, each other, and ourselves. We did so for centuries.

We often beat ourselves up for not doing enough, when the reality is that ALL we do is … do! I mean, just look at our daily schedules. They’re insane, and almost always unrealistic. So we can’t achieve it all, and then we spend every day feeling like we are less than for not being literal machines. IT’S OKAY. I get really angry just thinking about it, thinking about all these lies we are sold by a society that honestly doesn’t give a shit about any of us.

Can we please all run away and live in the woods together in small conscious communities where everyone uses their unique gifts to contribute and there is collaborative support so we can all take time to freaking rest???

Anyway, this is my plea to you to find your own body awareness. Tune into your true needs. I know it isn’t easy. I still get pangs of guilt when I rest – not so much because I’m letting down society, but because I don’t want to miss out on anything in my short time on this planet. I have to remind myself that if I don’t rest, I will actually shorten the length of my life and end up missing out anyway!

Yes, you may have to cut some things out of your life to make time to rest. No, you may not like that idea. But you are a grownup and sometimes, you do things you don’t like in order to take care of your needs. I, for instance, have had to pause posting on this blog lately. I just do not have the capacity to commit as much time to it. Is that how I would prefer it? No. But am I going to sacrifice (even more) sleep to write it? I’m not. There is no prize for killing yourself to get everything done.

You might feel like you’ve already gotten rest and you shouldn’t still feel tired. If that’s the case, let me ask you this. Do you think a couple days of rest can really make up for years, maybe decades, of nervous system dysregulation? They can’t. I get it. I’ve been in my healing journey for about three years now and I’m still tired. Not only is my nervous system still healing, I’m processing a lot of trauma and that takes energy. I get frustrated by it too. But the thing is – YOUR BODY DOESN’T LIE. We haven’t been taught to trust it, but it’s one of the only things we can trust.

You might simply be exhausted. You don’t need any fancy reasons or excuses. It’s okay to be tired and it’s not your fault we are told we aren’t allowed to be. It’s not a sign of weakness. It’s a sign that you need to take time to rest. Sending you love.