As I’m writing this, I’m busy doing three things;
I teach Yoga three times a week,
I run this blog and help people to find their calling,
and I work part-time for a chiropractor.
So this week, something interesting unfolded.
I got an inflammation in both my shoulders, which got so bad that I couldn’t even lift my arms. I decided to take care of myself and call in with my day job to let them know that on Monday I’d be going to see a doctor – so everyone could plan ahead early enough.
To my surprise, instead of supportive messages and „get well soon“ I received a couple of messages saying that I shouldn’t do this for the sake of everyone else and stick it out.
I was super-enraged.
For some reason, these people, my bosses and my coworkers alike, decided that my health wasn’t as important as the planned day in the workplace.
Which got me into thought.
How could it have come to this?
Was there anything I might have contributed to the situation to attract such little respect and such big ignorance?
I don’t really think so. But what I learned from this is:
- You can’t make everyone happy. Some people won’t like you when you’re not making them happy. Those people don’t see you as a human being, but as a functional tool.
2. Setting Boundaries is crazy exiting and thrilling and incredibly valuable.
When we’re working with or for others, especially in a small team, we tend to ignore signals from our body. We carry around a cold for weeks, we work even though we have migraines, we give our best even though we can’t bring up much energy for anything outside of work anymore.
That’s called self-sacrifice.
These past weeks, I used to go to work, massage people, pull legs and arms and hips, go home, put salve on my arms and stop using them for the rest of the day.
I even had to stop demonstrating while teaching Yoga.
And all that happened for a period of time, until the Inflammation was so bad that I could not move anymore and even lifting a cup of tea hurt like hell.
And at the point of absolute exhaustion, after having sacrificed most of my energy into that job while I saved it during all my other endeavors, I was faced with judgement and more demands when opening up about my problem.
So you see, my mistake was that I didn’t prioritize my health in the first place.
Way sooner, I should have seeked help.
What has that to do with self worth?
Everything.
When you believe that you are worthy of being heard, you’ll speak up.
When you believe that you are worthy of medical care, you’ll seek it.
When you believe that you deserve a break, you’ll take one.
Also, when you believe that you deserve a better life, you will start building it.
So this week, I’m definitely guilty of not having valued myself enough to take care of myself when I needed to.
And from now on, I will make my health a priority.
I will listen to my body. Get those sweet 8h of sleep each night. I will stop letting the judgements and thoughts of others determine how much rest I’ll let myself have.
When was the last time you could have valued yourself and your needs more?
I’d love to hear your story, and what you learned from it.
