Recuperate

So the weekend is over and I did a whole lot of nothing. Seriously all I did was rest, watch 2 seasons of Brain Games (because I’m a big nerd), and watch a documentary on the covert circulation of dubbed US movies in 1980s Romania. I also tidied my house and ran a quick errand to get cat food and that’s it. Weekend over. There were at least 2 other things I should have been doing and I didn’t even think of having them as an option on any sort of to do list.

I needed me time. This last week felt like three. With a big snow storm, -30 temperatures, and a transit system that forgets that we are in Canada, I had to get up at 5 almost every day so that I could make my connecting bus to work. It was a reminder of how much commuting can take out of you, and a reminder of who are the people that are most likely to be commuting (but that’s a whole other blog post- not for a Monday morning).

I spent the last two days of my work week in mental health first aid training which is part of the professional development courses my work offers. We talked a lot about the need for “self-care” and I’m always weary of using that word because it’s been so cooped by capitalism lately. I am going to say that I needed recuperation time this weekend and that’s what I did. 

The only way to make this weekend better is if the book I ordered earlier in the week would have arrived Friday or Saturday. But I probably didn’t have much brain capacity for it anyway. Sometimes you just need to be mindless to be mindful and if that means spending a weekend doing a bunch of nothing with your cat so be it. 

We live in a society that looks down at recuperation time - we should be up and at ‘em all the time. But that’s not realistic. I used to think I could be that person but as I get older I realize that I need to take these moments for me. So now I’m starting the week definitely better rested than I ended it. I also have a long weekend to look forward to in two weeks time which is great. When I was in training I said I was not very good at “self-care” and I realize now it’s because my vision of recuperation doesn’t fit the bubble bath, manicure pedicure vision we are sold. Reading a book in bed is good recuperation for me as is watching a documentary. 

My way to unwind looks a whole lot like learning for others and that’s okay. Because I recuperate through words just as easily as you recuperate through shopping sprees. The important part is that the goal is the same.