You know you best.

I’ve heard a lot of conversations around this moment in time being a sacred pause. Though I certainly think the encouragement to not be productive, the reminders that this is a hard year, that more rest is needed, more breaks, and tons of space to be yourself, to do what your body, what your heart needs, I do think these messages feel incredibly important. It also feels important to recognize that we are not in a pause. Time is still ticking by. Babies are getting older. Teenagers are graduating, changing schools. Families are growing, friends are moving. Time is ticking by. What we choose to do with our time, what feels right for you and your heart so you can be a part of this moment in history and take care of yourself, those are the questions to be asking. 

But calling this moment in time a pause insinuates a checking out. We are in this pandemic, we have awakened to, or stepped up our fight for racial justice. These are very real moments that are happening before our eyes each and everyday. Whether we are choosing to participate in them or checking out, is the conversation. 

There is a difference between pausing for the sake of space. Pausing for rest. For clarity. For an opportunity to learn, unlearn, re-center. There is a difference between this, and pausing for the sake of checking out. Checking out with privilege. Checking out with hopelessness.

If you’re in need of permission from yourself to not be productive, then YES, by all means, do that. This is not about productivity, it’s about choosing with intentionality how you are spending this time. There are moments for rest. There are moments for re-centering. Moments of complete lostness. Moments of hopelessness. And sometimes these moments are long moments, maybe longer than you’d like it to be. And there are also moments when it’s time to get up and join the change. To do more. To be a part of this moment in history.

I spent a breathwork session the other day crying, sobbing without a knowing of what the tears were about. It was a collective sadness. A feeling of despair, of hopelessness, of confusion, questioning how, why, does it feel so backwards sometimes. There were not words to describe the energy my body was processing, I simply felt it. And when it was time, I opened my eyes, I came to my computer, I wrote, I processed, and I moved on with the day. Then I spent the last 3 days cleansing my body in the ocean. As I floated on top of the water, my mind wanted me to feel guilty for not being “productive”. But what if this was productive? What if this was exactly what my body needed to reset, and rejoin the year, meet my clients with clarity with spaciousness?

Only you can decide where you are at, what your body is in need of and how best to get through this year. Only you know your needs, know when you’ve gotten so lost you need help, know when you’ve taken so much action, it’s time to rest. Know when it’s time to lay all day in a collective reset, and know when it’s time to rejoin the fight. You know you best. Tap in. Ask yourself what you need and then let’s get up and be in this together.