Forms of Fatigue
Our exhaustion asks us for specific ways to really rest. We don’t need all the answers, we just need to ask the right question(s) and listen.
Resting is a struggle with the cultures of our lives as multifaceted and interconnected as we are as living beings. Connection and access, to each other and to the rest of the world, demand immense capacity not only mentally and emotionally but physically and energetically. Whatever you are not aware of, does not exist for you. We can see and have personal first hand experience on how this is very triggering for those acknowledging differing realities. Our specifically wired brains and inflated egos normalize this vast consumption and analysis as evolution. Visit any corner of the internet and you’ll find yourself in the deafening roar of hundreds of people’s sworn secret to the ‘Top Best Maximum Optimizing Hack Trick Pro Tip Way To Do [Something] / Be [Someone]’. Most of the time, everyone’s very correct. But we’re left drowning in solutions and paralyzed in analysis because we are in fact not the same people.
Not mechanical machines, we are ever-fluid human beings in a constant state of sensing and choosing. While everyone’s unique experiences of fatigue are shaped by our personalities, preferences and lived experiences, we can all become more mindful and responsive by understanding the different ways we tire. Like emotions, human beings can relate in the forms of fatigue. With the last of energy we have when exhausted, it is still possible to choose to care for ourselves intentionally rather than spending too much time in overwhelm… or continuing to doomscroll through half-lidded eyes on the couch getting more defeated about how uncomfortable we feel.
The most common factors that influence our fatigue are:
emotional wellbeing and capacity to respond well in the face of crisis, adversity and challenge (self-soothing and resilience)
reactions to stress (conscious and subconscious; poor care of stress literally manifests as density and inflammation)
time spent conscious (our cognitive/mental exertion including tasks beyond working or the workday)
the state of our holistic health and wellbeing (sleeping, eating, drinking and exercising “well” are actually not enough)
our lifestyle choices (how we treat ourselves)
lifestyle habits such as sleeping, eating, drinking, substances, physical activity, breathing, socializing
Nothing groundbreaking here, right? These are foundational aspects of life many people are taught to keep tabs on and most adults are aware enough about what is healthy vs unhealthy for them. Yet the number of people who are burnt out, tired and depleted still largely outnumber those who are rested.
What surprises many people is how the accumulation of other forms of fatigue compound and overwhelm us. Or perhaps it’s how deeply impacting and far-reaching the less tangible factors actually are. Most of the time, these factors create more imbalance and dysfunction than the basics of sleep-eat-work-play-formulas because they are often blended, chronic and/or are less acute to what colonial societies deem the primary 5 senses. Our brains are evolutionarily hardwired to seek the fastest, least painful ways out to our pain and discomfort. Suddenly we face the paradox of being both quite simple and very complex.
In your fatigue or burnout, consider:
how long and well you were previously resting
how long and well you were prior to being conscious
how long and well you were prior to engaging in work/working
your sleep/nap opportunities— and whether you are giving yourself permission to have them!
your bodies’ unique needs, such as circadian adaptation (the internal body clock)
sensory overload (while we’ve become very evolved and intelligent, everything literally requires and involves energy)
if you’re really resting while you’re resting (passive activities like Netflix are actually more activities than they are passive because you’re still busy with stimulation, even if it doesn’t take you conscious effort)
aspects of your life that require (re)alignment (because soul starvation and trauma deeply affect all energy reserves in a person)
your boundaries for where your time and attention are spent (worrying or fixating on something while you are trying to accomplish another requires a lot of mental-emotional juggling and switching gears for your mind so remember, be kind)
honoring your humanity, especially humbly allowing your limited capacity (rest is both a great arena for resilience and an imperfect practice to show up for)
what requires healing (symptoms, physically tangible or unseen, may be easier to bandaid on autopilot or denial than core aspects of ourselves that our grace, care and expansion)
environmental barriers (a plant in the wrong pot without the right amount of light, water and clean air will stay wilted)
social systems and the respective stress and traumas that demand your time, energy and attention (as BIPOC, we are too familiar with the exhaustion of navigating oppression and its violence, injustice and pain)
the longest relationship you’ll ever be in (how you treat yourself; what values you live; when you need more compassion; how you keep yourself accountable)
In what ways are you tired right now and how can you begin really resting?
Our self-awareness, mindfulness, neurophysiology and energetic capacities continuously provide us with rich information. The rest is up to us, in the form of our free will and each decision we make.
When we are too exhausted, too overwhelmed or too lost in trying to survive, resting as community care can involve receiving support or seeking guidance. I’m here to create a container with you for self-awareness, self-exploration and self-healing through the integrations and practices of resting, all-inclusive of your mind, body and spirit. We work with the structure and science-backed factors of your unique neurophysiology and lived experience in tandem with the intuitive and fluid space for connecting deeper with your psyche and balancing through mysticism such as energy medicine and archetypal readings. Get in touch now to discuss how 1:1 burnout recovery (and prevention) is about to shift your life, relationships, work and experience of being in your bodies with responsiveness.
Attuned with and/or curious of the unseen? Wherever you are in your journey, book a reiki treatment for intuitive downloads, support, catharsis and unblocking energy centers. If you prefer being a group member, join our community conversations online on Facebook or Instagram and subscribe via the RSVP link to stay in the loop for all community events! Let’s become rested together now.
