One of my biggest issues is that I don’t know when to rest.
On weekends, I have this problem of trying to get too many things accomplished in a mere 48 hours and I end up burning myself out by the end of the day on Sundays. If I start to get tired, I grit my teeth and just keep going. Sometimes I’ll even ignore the pangs of hunger or forget to take even a sip of water.
Wellllll, it’s starting to catch up with me. I’m not old by any means, but I am getting to the point where I notice I don’t have the same stamina I used to even compared to a few years ago. It also makes for a terrible start to my work week and makes Mondays that much harder to deal with.
Because I wasn’t listening to my body’s cues (even though, that is a major part of my yoga practice), I think my body decided to send me its version of a HOWLER. For non-Harry Potter fans, this is a type of letter that uses the sender’s voice at a high volume. If the letter is left unopened for too long, it will explode with an even louder version of the message, ensuring the letter is opened.
Any-hoo, back in September, I bought a pair of heels that didn’t sit right on my feet. My right foot naturally gets more of my weight when I walk and the heels paired with a pretty intense weekend of Yoga Teacher Training caused my big toe joint and second toe to have sharp pains every time I flexed my toes back.
I went to a walk-in clinic for it originally, where they thought it was a tendon issue and told me to just ice and keep it elevated and it would be fine in a few weeks.
Nope.
In December, after limping and walking by rolling to the outside of my right foot, I decided it was time to go to a specialist (also, I went back to the clinic for a cold and the NP there told me I needed to go to the orthopedic doctor).
This doctor told me he thought my bone was bruised on my second toe and gave me a medical boot to wear to keep my toes from bending back when I walk. And I walk a lot where I work!! He said two weeks should do it and it would start to get better.
Nope.
But I didn’t go back right away. I waited. Three months. Because I’m the worst patient ever.
I finally went back (with some knee issues from wearing the boot too long!!) and he told me to stop wearing the boot and put a carbon steel insert in my shoe. He also told me to make sure I come back in a month because if it’s not getting better, he wants to do an MRI to make sure it’s not my ligaments.
Of course, the most profound thing he told me (at least for my little workaholic brain) is to COOL. IT. I can still teach/take yoga, of course, because I love it. But I need to try not to do anything else strenuous to let my foot get better.
Easier said than done. But I’m trying.
I try to do all the things on Saturdays. Yoga class, clean, cook, reorganize, go for a walk, etc, etc. And when I don’t get it all done on Saturday, I beat myself up over it and force myself to do more than I should on Sunday.
I think I’ve done a little better this past weekend. I still took my yoga class on Saturday, and I broke the rules a bit to walk in the gorgeous weather to get a crepe after class. (I walked s l o w l y, y’all!)
I also didn’t clean on Saturday. I talked with my sister-in-law on Instagram Live, read a book and hung out with Grant and some friends who were in town.
I’m writing this on Sunday morning, and my goal is to barely do anything today. (Full disclosure, I decided to attempt to make bagels, but the dough needs to rest, so I rested during that! Then rested while they baked.)
I’ve had mixed emotions about my foot. I’m mostly annoyed that it’s not getting better as fast as I want.
But it gives me an opportunity to evaluate why I think I need to work so hard. Sometimes it just happens and I get to the end of the day like, “What just happened?” I also need to evaluate my standards for a clean house, which is usually near perfection level. Like, I want my house to look like a magazine, guys. But is that necessary? Is that healthy for me?
And even if I like it to be tidy, I need to take my projects in smaller chunks. For example, springtime makes me want a nice patio area to hang out. Rather than clearing it all out, going to the store to purchase some new plants, planting those plants, making sure they’re watered and maybe even redecorating, I will try to look at it as a step-by-step process. Each of those things I want to do is one weekend project.
Self-care is the trend right now and I’m really not the best at it. I tell people in yoga class to choose a version of the pose that suits their body, not their ego. It’s a cue I’m good at following on the mat, but not so great at taking off the mat. I need to try to choose a version of my weekend that suits my body and energy levels. Not my ego.
I’m open to any tips y’all have for keeping yourself from doing too much. How do you make sure you have a productive but also restful weekend?
Allison Leora 