Listening to my whispers before they become screams

Or why I’m taking a mental health week

Photo credit: Unsplash

Like I shared in this recent post about the things I was doing to help me feel better that day, my chronic illness has been kicking my ass a little lately.

I’ve been very symptomatic, fatigued, and pretty uncomfortable in my body, with most of my symptoms dialled up close to a ten, and it’s slowly started to take a little toll on my mental health too.

Now don’t get me wrong: I’m okay.

I’m so grateful for my life, my family, my friendships, my home, the business I’ve built where I’m able to work very part time hours alongside the realities of my health.

And also: being chronically ill really, really sucks some days.

And it’s sucked so much recently that I even found myself asking: is my mental health okay right now?

And that’s when I really knew that it was time to pay attention to my needs, as I’ve learned over the years not to mess around when it comes to my mental health.

A little backstory: I started my business a decade ago now on the other side of healing from a mental health breakdown in my early 20s.

I was very unwell and unable to get a traditional job after graduating university whilst I healed from a severe episode of depression - the little blog that I started back then slowly evolved into a blog coaching business which then became the work I do as a business guide today.

And I knew that I was nowhere close to where I’ve been before when it comes to the low lows of my mental health, but what I’ve also learned in the years since recovering from my mental health breakdown is that I have to listen to my whispers become they become deafening screams.

And this tiny whisper recently, that living in this chronically ill body of mine was starting to take its toll on my mental health, that I was feeling lower than I had in a while, and that although I could just keep going and just wait for the heaviness to pass what I really wanted and needed was some space to prioritise holding myself through this right now.

So I took a look at my schedule, saw that I could take a week off in June without it causing any real havoc to my workload, and decided to schedule in a mental health week for myself.

A week to rest, switch off from the responsibilities of my business, and recharge my tank and tend to my emotional needs right now too.

And it was so easy to start to judge myself for this, to put pressure on myself just to push through, to just get on with it as best I could.

It sounds so simple but giving myself permission to take next week off feels like an act of radical self love to me, to put my needs on the table right now and show myself with my actions that those needs aren’t too much or an inconvenience but something worth listening to and honouring too.

And the funny thing is, this week my mental health had already started to gently lift.

After embracing as much gentle rest as I could these past few weeks, spending time with our friends at the weekend, and reading lots of good books and prioritising the things I can do each day to help me feel better, I was starting to feel more joy and peace again in my days.

But I’m still giving myself this mental health week next week, space to recharge my tank so that I can continue to hold the space I hold for my clients and customers through my work, and continue to heal through this challenging season of my health too.

And I share all of this to say: we’re allowed to meet the needs of our whispers before they become screams.

We’re allowed to lighten our workload a little when we’re starting to feel a little overstretched and overstimulated by our work.

We’re allowed to schedule time off just for rest and to switch our brain off too.

And we’re allowed to be human beings with needs that need tending to, to not always have the capacity to be go-go-go in our work and our life.

Living in this chronically ill body of mine has taught me to find and choose as much joy for myself as I can each day and I’m so looking forward to having space to prioritise doing exactly that next week and then come back to my business hopefully feeling a little recharged too.

And whatever your whispers may be in your business right now, this is my encouragement to listen to them before they become screams.

Maybe it’s that you’re also in need of some rest, or perhaps you’re outgrowing an offering that’s no longer working best for you, or a marketing channel that’s no longer feeling aligned.

And if it’s that your mental health needs tending to, too? I hope you know that you’re not alone and that it’s okay to need to love and care for yourself through this.

Until next time,

Jen