A Reminder to Myself

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When you are working so often busyness, stress and fatigue are held up like an award of honour displayed proudly on your chest. In reality they are debilitating and in due course exhaustion can lead to burn out.

There are still occasions when I feel overburdened but unlike my pre-retirement days it's so much easier to remedy the situation. This week, as well as all the cleaning up from last week's disasters and on top of my normal schedule, I've put myself under pressure by seeking to dig over, compost and re-mulch the garden whilst the sun shines and before the clay soil turns once again to something that resembles concrete. Contemporaneously I'm trying to build in a variety of self watering systems based on wicking and capillary actions. There are seedlings to transplant and pot on, as well as more seeds to be sown directly into vegetable  beds. It's a race against time and it feels like I'm losing.

Nowadays I know that the most important things in life are health and happiness. Whilst being outside getting my hands well and truly dirty helps both (so long as I don't suck my soil encrusted fingers), I recognise that it is permissible to stop and lay down my tools, take a short break or even the whole afternoon off. Life isn’t meant to be a hamster wheel; the Earth doesn't stop spinning because I cease running around; what's truly amazing is that I still need to keep reminding myself of that.

 


 


Comments

Treaders said…
Don't I know that! I've been retired 4.5 years and I'm still having problems just saying "sod it" and sitting in the garden reading! Frankly I don't know how I did it when I was working but I did remark that every one on the bus after a day of work looked like zombies (me included)!
3 June 2023 at 08:25
Caree Risover said…
And when you do finally manage to sit still, I bet you feel guilty - I always do!
3 June 2023 at 18:53
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