Resting leads to guilt
Hey everybody!
Well I have been put on antibiotics this week, hence no post on Monday just gone, and I feel awful on them! I am literally sleeping most of the time and to be honest resting leads to guilt, and I have written about this before but the struggle is real!
My husband is not feeling too well right now either so I want to be looking after him, instead I am staying in bed all morning, needing baths to help my pain, and not managing to do my physiotherapy or yoga or any housework! I am literally a lump on the sofa and it is not a nice feeling at all!
Now I try my best to be positive, I make sure I have my God time every morning, I meditate and I practice mindfulness to try and help my chronic illnesses. However, there are times especially when I am struggling with my pain and fatigue, when I cannot control my thoughts and things can turn negative. This is when I need to dig deep and try to use all the tools in my toolbelt to try and keep my vibration and spirits up.
Now I don’t know about you, but I have a few things that help me and hopefully they can help you sometimes and I would love it if you would hop into the comments and share some of yours:
- Meditation: This is a big one for me, I use the Insight timer on my iPad to find guided meditations focused on self love, raising my vibrations and opening to the Solar Plexus Chakra which is connected to personal identity, self will and how much confidence you have. The Solar Plexus is very much related to energy levels, problems with digestion and metabolism so I am working very hard to connect and open this chakra up at the moment.
- Alternative Therapies: There are a wide range of crystals that can help with energy levels, I recently bought a Bloodstone and I am working with this just holding it and meditating with it to see if it helps. There are a lot of things like essentials oils and crystals that have been used for thousands of years as medicine and I think it is important to investigate and try things to see what works.
- Diet: No I am not talking about losing weight, but just paying attention to what you eat when you have chronic illnesses. There are so many diets recommended for different illnesses and it is important to check out bloggers who are living with those illnesses to find recommendations that actually work. I am trying to stay away from fatty and processed foods and to get back to making things from scratch.
- Listen to your body: The main thing I would say is to be in the moment and listen to your body, it will generally tell you when it needs to rest or eat or when there is pain and it is when we ignore these signals when a flare comes!
- Take a bath: I use some lovely Magnesium salts and a bath bomb, magnesium salts can help pain and resting in warm water if possible for you can really help with aching muscles as well as nerve pain. I sometimes bathe in the evening then go to bed and oh my goodness do I get a good sleep!
- Heating Pad: these are a staple of any chronic illness warrior honestly a heating pad can make all the difference, I use mine a lot in the evening for my back pain and they are a must if you are dealing with long term pain.
Now I am currently watching one of my favourite podcasts on you tube and typing this out, but I cannot stop yawning and honestly I just want to be in bed! However, if I had not done this post I would have felt like I had achieved nothing today and that is such a difficult emotion to deal with. The best advice I can give is to remember that as a chronic illness warrior, we are dealing with so much just to keep going and because of this it is so hard to deal with societies expectations anyway so we need to give ourselves a break. I hadn’t really realised I was feeling guilty until today and I know I have dealt with this before, so I know I need to just let that go and try to remember my worth is more than what I do.
I hope you will post the things that help you down below in the comments and I am hopeful that my experiences this week can help you.
Namaste xxx
6 Comments
Kirsten
It’s so hard to let go of that guilt feeling isn’t it? Especially when you want to take care of your loved ones but you are to unwell. Something that helps me is talking to fellow spoonie friends. They understand and will remind me it’s okay to rest.
ZombieButterfly
Hi Kirsten, it really is! I mean there is so much pressure put on everyone and it feels so much like I am not helping when I cannot even do simple housework, but talking to fellow spoonies always helps that why I love having this place to express how I am feeling xx
Amber
These are so useful. I often feel a little guilty when I take time for myself but it’s been so good for me so far. Thanks for sharing!
http://happilyhavingnoideawhatimdoing.wordpress.com
ZombieButterfly
It is so hard to feel ok just resting, but I am thankful I have people around who remind me it is ok and what my body needs. I subscribed to your blog thank you for reading xx
Suzanne
I often feel guilty when I rest. I actually think that line of thinking is what makes me feel worse. I am working on letting myself rest without the guilt but it is a challenge. I liked your advice on what you do to help- I can relate because I also try to do some of those things to help feel better. Thank you so much for sharing- and I am sending you gentle hugs.
ZombieButterfly
Thank you so much, I think it helps knowing we are not alone in these feelings and knowing they are normal help us to feel less alone. I am glad my post could help you and hugs are always appreciated xx