Hey there, Reader,

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If you've been around these parts for a while, you know I'm a big advocate for getting the rest you need, and not overworking yourself.

As you learn pretty quickly with a chronic illness, overworking and the stress that comes with it often leads to a flare up of your condition, or general exhaustion. Consistently overworking leads to burnout that can take much longer to recover from.

The point of being a Health First Freelancer is that overworking becomes much harder to do when you control your own workload, and you incorporate rest strategies throughout your day to recover your energy. 💪

But that begs the question, should you never push yourself to do a little bit more?

Aren't there times when you have to stretch a little farther beyond your comfort zone? Whether it's putting in more work to hit a deadline, or ignoring a symptom temporarily so that you can get sh*t done.

Take me today, for example. 😅

My gut isn't feeling so great. It's these full moon eclipses, I'm telling you. The last one got messed me up pretty good. Plus the fall allergies are in full swing, and my body just isn't handling it well with these temperature swings and all the leaf mold in the air. And I haven't been sleeping great.

Therefore, I'd much rather be laying on my couch right now, reading a book or scrolling through my phone.

But instead, I'm working. I'm powering through. I'm getting sh*t done, and that feels good in its own way.

Here's the difference between powering through for a short period of time and overworking yourself.

I know I'm powering through right now. I'm aware that my energy isn't the greatest, and my gut is off, and I'm going to need a rest later. But for right now, I also know that getting a few things off my to-do list for today is really going to help with my stress levels, and ultimately set me up for a better day and week than taking the day off.

Sometimes, self-care is getting sh*t done. And then taking a rest after.

To me, overworking implies consistently pushing past your limits, often without awareness of what you're doing, never recharging your energy, and basically living in the stress-crash cycle that leads to burnout.

I've been there done that, and I'm not doing that today. There's going to be a moment or two today when I relax, recharge, and ground myself. And probably take a nap. It just isn't right this moment.

For right now, I'm in the zone with work, and it feels good, even though I feel less than good.

Does this make any sense, Reader? Hit reply and let me know.

And make sure you still get some rest time today. 💛

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Keep 'er movin,

Amanda

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