I know that in an earlier blog I said that when your body tells you it’s time to rest, you should give yourself permission to do so. However, when your mind is talking, you can often push through it to do what you wanted or needed to do. I think you probably know the difference. If you have been sick, or did not get much sleep, or it is the day after you physically overexerted yourself, you might be smart to give yourself a break and take it easy, especially if you are over 40, like me. :)) Even if you are older, there are times when the situation calls for your action, but your body is resisting and your mind is telling you “I can’t. I’m too tired.” These are the times when you can overrule your mind and say “I can!” My husband, a former Marine, refers to it as “pushing through”. It might be pushing through the pain, or pushing through the desire to lie down and do nothing. He does it often. It’s one of the things I admire about him. He has taught me by example how to do it myself.
The strange thing is, when you push yourself to do the thing you want or need to do, the energy seems to come out of nowhere and you do not feel the least bit tired while doing it! We recently had a wedding in our family, my eldest son. We had out of town family coming and all of the men stayed at our house overnight and most of the next day, which happened to be the wedding day. I am retired and used to a quiet house with just me, my husband and our two cats. Occasionally we have dinner guests, rarely overnight guests, but when we do, there are only two of them and they are generally older, like us. This time, we had six overnight guests ranging in age from 11 (grandson) to 41, and all but one of them was male!
Needless to say, the day of the wedding it was pretty chaotic. My son’s half brother visiting from Tennessee was gracious enough to make breakfast for everyone, which was amazing. Everyone arose at different times, of course, so some meals had to be warmed up. No big deal. Then there were the showers! Eight showers were taken at our home that day. That means eight bath towels were used and lots and lots of water. I digress.
My energy demands came on Thursday when I picked up my youngest son and his wife at the airport who flew in from Oregon. We lunched and then the rest of the gang came over that night (night before the wedding). There was dinner to plan, purchase and make as well as cleaning up after. Wednesday night, not much sleep, too excited. Thursday night got to bed late. Friday evening we packed as we were staying at a hotel near the wedding. Wedding was really, really wonderful and fun. Lots of family and friends. Beautiful ceremony. Next day we drove home and then Sunday night my daughter-in-law and son (youngest ones) came over with her parents, whom we love, for dinner. Another meal to plan, purchase and make. Dinner table to set. She called, “Can I bring my sister?” Of course! (Super cool lady.) One more! No problem!
Monday, all day, I had things to do but I was alone. Everyone had left. My young son and his wife flew back to Oregon in the early morning. I was sad to have them all go away but needed the quiet. I had things I had to do like clean up from Sunday night, do laundry, pay bills, etc. Where would I get the energy to do these things? Mind over matter, or rather, mind over body, something I very much believe in.
You can do it, too. Ignore the mind that says you can’t, and do what you need or want to do. Warning – if your body is talking, LISTEN TO IT! But if it is just your mind that wants you to do nothing and there is no good reason to listen to it, just push through. You will be amazed at what your body can do when your mind backs it up. It can even heal itself. But that is another blog for another time. :))