As I get older into adulthood I feel like more and more things require my attention. Trying to juggle work, family, home maintenance etc I’m constantly busy. I can almost never find time to rest because there is always something that has to be done. How do you find time to rest and cope with the stress but also get the things on your plate complete?
Screaming into the void and therapy.
But fr, the one thing I’m working on unraveling is the guilt I tie to “non-productive” time. I will sit unable to do anything because there are too many things, and mentally torture myself for not being productive. That then uses up so much emotional energy that I feel a thousand times worse. It’s not easy to undo a lifetime of this belief, but I’m explicitly trying to be more gentle with myself, and say: “Okay sure you need to do XYZ, but right now you are not okay, so let’s lie here and have a little rest, watch some crap, and work on recovery.”
This is exactly how I feel. I have so many things to do that sometimes I get overwhelmed and end up doing nothing. Then I beat myself up that I just wasted that time (intentionally doing nothing is better than doing nothing out of anxious paralysis). Even when I try to intentionally relax, I find myself recounting all the things I “should” be doing instead. I’ve learned that I need to stop shouldding on myself. I still do it, but at least I’m aware of it and watch out for it now.