This weekend we´ve taken it easy, the girls and I; I think we all needed to rest. And it did us a lot of good, though I´m not sure it was enough for the level of accumulated tiredness we all had (and it´s only been a month since school started!).
(Foto de nuestro antiguo sofá, del que nos despedimos hace un par de meses. La de siestas que me habré echado yo aquí…)
The other day, just by coincidence, or I should say, thanks to Google´s algorithms, I found an article suggesting that nowadays, we live in the burnout society. It explained that many of us live in a situation of chronic tiredness, and the worst part is that we have normalized it. Our society values constant activity, so that´s what we do: we fill up our calendars to the brim in order to take in more, to achieve more, as a way to motivate ourselves and be happier. We don´t need anybody to exploit us; we exploit ourselves. And somehow, we perceive rest as a waste of time, something we cannot afford.
The result? We are exhausted, individually and also collectively.
But in reality, what we cannot afford is not to rest. And if we don´t learn this the easy way, we will learn it the hard way.
Today´s "untranslatable expression" is tener sueño atrasado, que es la manera en la que decimos en español que hemos dormido menos de lo que deberíamos, ya sea refiriéndonos a la noche anterior o a un periodo más largo de tiempo (incluso hay algún gracioso que dice que tiene sueño atrasado desde su primera comunión…)
I like this way of expressing it because it conveys the idea that there´s a certain debt, a time debt in this case, that has to be "repaid" in order to catch up and bring things back to normal. And it´s precisely this concept of "catching up" that´s conveyed by the closest expression I found in English: having to catch up on sleep.
Unfortunately, what the experts say is that we can never make up for lost sleep. It´s not as easy as oversleeping one day to compensate for the day you underslept.
But then, what can we do? I can think of a few things:
- Let go of the burden of wanting to be up to date on everything. The to-do list is ALWAYS going to be longer than what there´s time to do.
- Remember that, in life, it all comes down to priorities: what are you dedicating most time and attention to? Well, right now, those are your priorities, whether you consciously chose them or not.
- Take time to reflect on your values, and they will help you to establish your priorities, and that way make sure you´re investing your time in things that really matter.
- Once priorities are clear, review your to-do list and see what you can adjust depending on how urgent or important each thing is.
- Make it easy for yourself with the remaining tasks on your list, choosing to do them instead of forcing yourself to do them.
- Stay alert and listen to your body signals; they will let you know when you´re going at a pace that´s not sustainable.
¿Qué te parecen estas sugerencias? Y me he guardado la mejor para el final…
- Re-evaluate your concept of productivity: What does being productive mean to you?
One thing that helps me immensely is considering rest and self-care as part of my job; if I don´t take care of myself and I don´t rest well, my physical and mental abilities will not be the same, and I won´t be able to give my all as a mother, an analyst or a coach.
I acknowledge that I'm saying all this as I type this post in the middle of the night, so as you can see, I still have a way to go towards fully following my own advice. But what I can tell you for sure is that, nowadays, I'm dedicating a lot more attention to rest than I did a few years ago, and more importantly, I no longer feel guilty for resting, sleeping and "wasting time" every once in a while.