Ya might laugh, but this line came to me as I was unpacking in my hotel, my last trip. Not that it’s such a novel concept, but the practicality of it hit me as I was taking my things out of my luggage.
Bc I’m not the best packer, I often use the grocery store plastic bags & put my different sneakers/shoes/flops each in one, tie them, & then stuff ‘em in w everything & zipper it all. Probably not the best for my footwear, but I don’t like carrying a lot of stuff when I travel, & as long as there’s something covering the soles, I feel like it protects my clothes!
So I’m in my hotel unpacking, ready to meet my friends at the pool, take out the plastic bag w my flops, & am abt to tear it open, when it occurs to me: If I tear it, I basically ruin the bag. And if I ruin the bag in my rush to get out to meet my friends, I KNOW when the trip’s ending, & I need to pack up (usually rt before I need to leave for the airport ), I’m gonna be searching arnd the room for plastic bags, wasting time, maybe even having to go out of my room to find some. I’ll be a mess, wasting time, as I need to get to the airport.
Mind you, this is not a “new” to me. I’ve torn those plastic bags many times, & almost missed my flights many times, searching for new shoe protection.
So I do the mature thing- spend the extra 30 secs digging into the knot I’d tied in the bag, & while I’m pissed I’m gonna be “later” to my friends, I know I’ll appreciate the bag(s) at the end of the trip.
Pretty ridic example, to shed light on the line I posted here, huh?
Here’s the thing- putting in time NOW, can feel like wasted time. We can always do things “later.” But, MH is cumulative. The effects of stress/trauma on our system compound. Don’t work on things now, you have MUCH more work later.
Ironically (& sadly) in a cab on the trip, I was talking to the driver, & he told me- at the restaurant he bartends, 3 diff workers came back after the lock downs, & had to take off w/in days of returning. Overwhelmed w the stress.
This scares me. We’ve all been thru a LOT whether we know it or not. Let’s put in the work NOW, so it doesn’t haunt us MORE, later. Self-care (if we’re doing it properly, can be real WORK). It’s not always pleasant to say: drop everything you’re doing & do yoga right now. Stop the momentum on that work project & get your breathing in.
But here’s the thing: I’ve seen a lot of posts on twitter of all places (bc teachers like to hang out there), related to teacher burn-out. Lots of cases where teachers had to take off the “rest” of the school year, no longer able to come in & function. My heart sinks hearing this bc so many teachers give/gave to their students selflessly during this stretch…but may not have had the time to do focused work on themselves. And it’s not just teachers – it’s any/all stressful job/life situations. It’s impacted us all. Let’s make an agreement w each other to put the time in NOW, so we don’t lose even more time later.
