A Break In Time Saves Nine

I can't use my left arm right now.

In related news, I have this nagging feeling that I've been overworking myself.

These may be related.

I know I'm working too much, but I keep telling myself that I need to get to the other side of the coming batch of important stuff before taking my break.

I've talked about this problem before.

This thought pattern could be classified as a bad habit.

I endulge in this habit because I know how good it feels to set my eyes on a goal, work towards it, and achieve it.

There is a lot of stuff going on. There is a lot of important stuff going on.

There is a lot of important stuff going on that is also urgent.

I don't want to miss any opportunities, so I fall into the same trap over and over.

I am paying a penalty for this mentality right now.

Some time in mid December, I started developing pain in my elbow while working out in the morning. I took the "no pain, no gain" mentality and just kept pushing through it.

Then one morning I woke up and my arm didn't want to work. I gave it a week's rest and things were feeling good again. Over Christmas, I hauled too many water buckets because our hoses all froze. By the beginning of the next week, my arm was all inflamed again.

This cycle of injury, rest, reinjury has gone on all January. I'm currently on my fourth round of full blown injury status, and this has been the worst yet.

I went to the doctor today even though I knew what they were going to say.

My body is screaming at me to give my arm a break, and if I don't do it soon, I'm going to wear down my tendons to the point that I have a real problem. The good news is that I'm still fine. The pain will go away by next week, and then I need to be disciplined about not working my arm for at least a month.

That is going to be challenging for me.

I think this is the Universe telling me to slow down in more ways than one.

I think there are several things I need to be mindful of...

One takeaway could be that I need to take on less to allow myself to focus. There is definitely some truth to this, but I think there are bigger pieces to this puzzle.

I need to delegate more. I need to let people help more than I do. I need to ask for help more than I currently do, which is essentially never. I need to let go and trust that things will work out, even if I'm not trying to control every step of the process.

I also need to slow down by doing less in a day. There was a large part of my life that was dedicated to doing as little work as possible in a day, then there's been a more recent chunk where I've been trying to do as much as possible every day.

This approach to life isn't fun.

Life is lived moment to moment, and if you are always rushing to get something done so you can move on to the next thing, you don't leave the time needed for joy.

I feel like this attitude of putting off joy for tomorrow is a common problem.

Everything I need for joy is right in front of me, I just need to take the time to enjoy it.

A little more time to get things done and a little less rushing - that isn't asking too much, I don't think.

Anyway, this is just a little reminder to give yourself a break.

This may seem to run counter to all the talk I've been sharing about habits and pomodoros, but I don't think it does. I don't want to give myself a break on getting control of my attention and using my time well, I just don't want to be in a rush.

I want to do important things and leave plenty of time to enjoy the process. I want to leave plenty of time for rest and regaining energy. I want to take care of myself by eating and sleeping well.

Really, it all comes down to listening to that voice inside you that will tell you what you need if you are willling to listen.

Imagine if I would have just slowed down a tad when my arm first started asking for a break. I could have been back in business within days. Instead, I'm 6 weeks in and am at the beginning of a long recovery.

So maybe the lesson is along the lines of "A stitch in time saves nine".

And on that note, I'm done for today!

Thanks for reading!

Life is good!