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.
