Fatigue – Servicing the car 🚗

Hey Bloomers! 🌼 I have used the car metaphor before in THIS article, but today I am going to dedicate a whole blog post to it. As we draw towards the end of the year, life becomes busy. It seems as if there is deadline after deadline and no time to rest. However, in the midst of all the chaos, you have to see yourself as a car – and cars need servicing. 

Forced v voluntary maintenance

A car is always going to get maintained – whether that’s done voluntarily or it’s forced. Of course, it’s better to do it voluntarily. When you take your car to get serviced regularly, you avoid a lot of problems. Yes, a substantial amount of money has to be used in the process, but there’s a purpose, and that’s for the car to continue running smoothly. Failure to do so may lead to a breakdown – and that will cost so much more than regular servicing of the car would have. Now, you are being FORCED to maintain the car.

But it doesn’t only end with the monetary loss. When a car breaks down, there’s a lot of inconvenience that comes with it and many alternative plans have to be made. Basically, everything is a mess. And this could have been avoided if the car was regularly serviced. It seems burdensome but it is absolutely necessary. 

At the beginning of the blog post, I said that you have to see yourself as a car. This means that you have to regularly take care of yourself, even in the middle of mayhem. There might be a lot of work that you need to get done or for students, exams that you have to study for, but that shouldn’t be an excuse to neglect yourself. Why? Because the consequences of neglecting yourself may be worse than taking a little self-care time away from the work. Just as with a car, you can choose to voluntarily take care of yourself, or you can allow life to force you to do so. The force happens in the form of fatigue. 

What is fatigue?

According to Healthline, fatigue is a term used to describe an overall feeling of tiredness or lack of energy. It isn’t the same as simply feeling drowsy or sleepy. When you’re fatigued, you have no motivation and no energy. Some people don’t understand that rest is productive – and I’m going to explain why it is. When a person dedicates all their time to their work because they have deadlines, they probably have good intentions in doing so. They think that giving all their time to their work is the quickest route for them to finish the tasks at hand. However, they couldn’t be more mistaken because when fatigue enters the picture, all forms of productivity exit the picture.

Working so hard to the point of fatigue means that a person no longer has motivation or energy. How then can they be able to complete their tasks when they have neither of these two things? Short answer: they can’t. The body will be unable to continue doing the things that it’s being forced to do and will in turn force the person to rest. So whether a person voluntarily decides to take care of them self or allows life/their body to do it for them: they are still going to rest. 

Why voluntary rest is better 

Voluntarily taking care of yourself, resting, and doing the things that you enjoy even during busy times is great for one main reason: you are in control of your time. You can decide when you’re going to take breaks and when you are going to work. That way, you still have enough time dedicated to the work and you’ll be able to meet your deadlines while maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Forced rest on the other hand shares a similarity with a car breaking down: there will be inconvenience and unnecessary chaos. If you don’t feel motivated and have the energy to do the things that you need to do, you essentially have to use all your time to rest. You’ll get no work done, and you’ll be in a far worse position that you would have been if you had just taken regular breaks and taken care of yourself. Therefore, voluntary rest is always better! 

There is virtue in work and there is virtue in rest. Use both and overlook neither. 

Alan Cohen

So, how DO you take care of yourself during this busy time? 

You have to continue doing the things that you love, enjoy and bring you a lot of happiness, even when it feels like you don’t have time for them. The truth is, through PLANNING, you will have time to dedicate to both work and play. Proper and prior planning allows you to allocate time to different areas of your life. During a busy time, work may get more time than all the other areas of life and that’s fine! The important thing is to have some time dedicated to self-care. 

Holistic wellness is made up of a number of factors and some of these are the mental, physical, emotional, spiritual and social. Obviously, as we draw closer to the end of the year, we have a lot on our plates and it won’t be as easy to make sure that all the aspects are well nourished.

However, look for an aspect to nourish each day! If you enjoy exercising, continue exercising (even though it may be for a shorter period). Watching series? Continue watching series. If you feel nourished by praying, continue praying. If you like to hang out with your friends, dedicate some time to that. The moment you stop doing all the things you love, you run the risk of getting extremely tired and demotivated. So continue taking care of yourself, resting, drinking water, and eating healthy. You won’t do your best when you’re suffering from fatigue. The best results can only come from the best you! 

Other ideas:

• Meditate 
• Journal
• Go for a walk 
• Listen to music 

The list is endless and you can read my blog post “The ultimate guide to self-care” for more ideas and a more detailed explanation of self-care ☺️

In concluding, I’d like to remind you of something, Bloomer. If you were a car, you’d be the best car on the market! So treat yourself accordingly! 💕

To the returning subscribers, thank you for your support! I truly appreciate it. If you’re new, thank you for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed the article enough to SUBSCRIBE below👇🏾💫