I can’t seem to remember if I have covered this topic in the past but I think relaxing itself for some people isn’t always as easy as it seems. Relaxing to some people could mean that they are sacrificing their time to accomplish their task, or even their potential income. To these people, relaxing is something that they just can’t afford for many reasons. There’s nobody in this world who would work for free or perhaps working with a little pay and there’s no off day. Even a slave would still get a day off in the past. That is perhaps something that some self-employed folks and even myself forget. We deserve a rest without feeling guilty.
For as long as I remember, setting up a boundary between my life and work has been a real challenge. Unlike those working 9-5, they get the weekend as their off-time and time for them to completely rest and rejuvenate without being seen as lazy or incompetent. But there’s that dread when you are self-employed or have your own business. Whenever I take a day off, I keep feeling guilty until I realize that I should not; I deserve to rest and I’ll work again on my designated work days.
It took a while to erase the idea that I’d be seen as lazy or incompetent or lose potential earning. Afterall, I realized that money wasn’t always the answer to happiness and there’s never just enough to satisfy us. Human greed is boundless and that’s something I am starting to remember again. The other day, I was talking to a group of friends about feeling like twenty four hours wasn’t enough and I was grasping at straws. There’s also that feeling like I was constantly running and running without ever getting the chance of catching breath. Then, I remember that I deserve rest and I’ll come back stronger each time I take time to have a good rest and rest my brain.
Personally, I have experienced many negative effects of overworking and that’s just what I tell myself whenever I am driving on that road. The comparison itself is also a challenge when I see people who can work 24/7 consistently but I often discount that perhaps they don’t have as much work or responsibilities as I do. That actually is contributing to my guilt while relaxing but I tell myself that it’s okay to take rest, spend time with family or friends and prioritize what matters in life and that we deserve to rest.
 | 𝘔𝘢𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢 & 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘳 . 𝘈 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨, 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯! 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘈 𝘳𝘦-𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰. |
Sometimes I feel the same way. I tell myself that I can relax and lie down and watch a movie, but I rarely feel comfortable. For some reason I feel extra bad especially nowadays. I hope to get rid of this feeling soon. This is something I started to feel especially in 2022 and 2023.
don't feel bad about not being able to rest. You have to rest in order to perform better and at your best. Anyhow, I think that it's best to give a day or two to rejuvenate and then work hard again. That's what I learned these past few days.
I feel you, it's hard to let go of the idea that we need to be producing. Personally, there's many things I do the "the old way", life fetching water from the stream with buckets and cooking only with firewood that I gather myself from the forest with a hatchet and a saw. Sometimes I'm feeling tired and feel like I've produced nothing or made no progress, then I have to remind myself that some time ago I was dreaming of living this simple life and spending lots of time in Nature, and now I'm doing it! I have to tell myself that the reward is not ahead but right here, right now.
I remembered having that feeling too but in a different circumstances for sure. Sometimes we only need to take a step back from everything and realized how good we have it and that it's the exact moment where we should be/always wanted. Thank you for leaving this thoughtful comment here.
I agree as I saw this feeling of not wanting to rest especially to those self employed and having a business.
My sister always eats in the past in supposed eating time as she was busy during her business. Oftentimes chose not to go to some of our family events for the reason she needs to open their furniture shop. Or she would go but stay only for a few hours and in hurry to leave.
Well that was the time her children are still studying and sending them to private school is no joke.
Now I am glad she could finally relax , so maybe that's it.. we really have point in life that we feel that we should not stop. Keep working and working without resting because of the certain goals we wanted to achieve in life.
There's probably that part too when at some point in our life, we get to relax. Thanks for telling an inspiration story like this. I always appreciate when someone giving me stories and examples :D
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Rest days are crucial and even though I do the 9-5 work myself, with the other jobs and things I’m doing it’s almost a small business in itself with the amount of work that I have to do on a weekly basis. The important thing for sure is rest and relaxation! The grind is important because it teaches us fortitude and perseverance but we also need to unwind from it all even for a day for our mental and physical health. None of it is worth it in the end if we don’t have our health!
That's what my mom told me too. It just that sometimes we grind too much and forgetting that rest plays crucial role in the grand scheme of things. There's also sayings where I am from, brain is like a car-engine, when it's not working properly and smoking-hot you gotta give it a rest.