Having more time does not mean having more capacity too!
All my conversations last few weeks with friends who are working from home right now amidst this pandemic has been very vulnerable. One sentence has emerged very strongly “I’m working more than usual.”
I myself believe that we must take time out to rest and replenish ourselves. I realise that for most of us, there is a deep sense of guilt when we want to carve out solo time for ourselves. During such surreal times, resting seems like a far off possibility for so many of us.
If this is you, I wish I could make a sacred space for you, to offer you a nap, words of comfort, a hug or tell you that let go of the worries of the world that you might be holding on for just a few moments.
But having time for ourselves especially during these times, has become even more vital. I have been at war with myself and my emotions trying to balance work, home, chores and a life where I can just be.
Not sure how you feel, but after house chores, cooking, 3 zoom calls, managing business Instagram and FB accounts, keeping my creative oil burning to write and ideate all in the matter of a day, I am just utterly burnt and wiped out. I feel like escaping into a cave and not come out for days.
Understanding our internal capacity and our boundaries around this (especially right now) is a powerful act of self-love.
Being supportive about needing a solo time is a gift.
We communicate to the other person that we care about them, they matter and we aren’t trying to fill up the only time they may have and so badly need it for self-care.
Flip side, being clear in our communication and allowing to take up space can go a long way. It may have a big impact on some people. Some may honour our boundaries and some may push back. That is ok. How they react is on them. Learning to choose yourself is hard but not choosing yourself is harder.
With that said, it’s absolutely normal that our inner energy, will and our capacity may not feel aligned right now.
It’s so normal that we may desire more space.
It’s so normal that we may long for privacy and for nothingness and mental nourishment.
And again, I am totally aware that many of us have little to no (extra) time for rest these days, so this isn’t an invitation to add more guilt in the basket.
It is merely an invitation to explore our relationship to rest, and to honour our capacity, especially if that capacity looks very different than what we are used to.
