Feel the guilt and do it anyway (drinking hot chocolate and declaring a Day-in-Bed day)

I declared a Day-in-Bed day this morning. All day I’ve been indulging in the luxury of clean sheets, pots of hot tea, listening to the radio, napping and sipping hot chocolate.

A Day-in-Bed day

I needed the rest, I’ve been feeling progressively more exhausted over the last few days and have been trying to ignore it. Last night I decided I just wouldn’t get up this morning, so put fresh sheets on my bed, climbed in and have stayed here. All day.

It makes sense of course to rest and recuperate when we’re exhausted, to give ourselves permission to stop and not do for a while, so that in the long-term we can stay creative, productive (or just be able to look after ourselves!). It makes sense, but it is still a VERY difficult thing to do.

Accepting feeling guilty

I decided this morning to just accept I was going to feel guilty for my day in bed, but do it anyway. Interestingly by accepting I was going to feel guilty, I’ve actually felt a lot less guilty than I have in the past when I’ve tried to talk myself out of feeling guilty (there are an awful lot of “guiltys” in that sentence!). More interesting still, even though I’ve napped and read and listened to the radio, I’ve still effortlessly prepared three meals, made a drawing, recorded a microPodcast and written this blog post!

Not perfect, but back in bed with a hot chocolate

It’s not all been perfect, I got caught up in trying to help someone out with some things over the phone this afternoon, something in the end I wasn’t able to help with, just reminding myself how tired I am, and how little spare energy I have to “give” to anyone or anything today. I should just have let the phone ring (or better still unplugged it!). Instead of getting frustrated with myself though I decided to just make myself a mug of hot chocolate and climbed back in bed with a hot water bottle.

Podcast

The podcast below is one of a series I’m currently recording answering questions readers of my new ebook, Sustainable Creativity have emailed to me. This question felt like just the right one to answer on a Day-in-Bed day.

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