2025: Build in Recovery Time
2025: Build in Recovery Time
I'm writing today to encourage you to value recovery time.
If your body is or has been ill, honor your need for rest and regeneration.
If you're grieving, navigating a disruptive shock, or enduring prolonged uncertainty, remind yourself that your brain and body are working hard.
If you're doing challenging or novel things - by choice or by circumstance - keep in mind how taxing that is (even if also positive or enlivening!).
If you're paying attention to threats to liberal democracies, human rights, collective care, and national and global economies, recognize that it's destabilizing when our fundamental worldviews and basic sense of safety are disrupted.
In short, don't underestimate your need to pace yourself.
It's so easy to minimize the need for recovery.
We may feel depleted but also so burdened by anxiety or our perception of what needs to be done that we grind on rather than slow down.
One client recently mentioned to me that she surrendered to resting during a time of illness, but couldn't quite shake the sense that she was being lazy or indulgent.
How about you: how often do you give yourself permission and encouragement to truly rest, recover, and restore during or after a period of stress or exertion?
Given that we are in a societal marathon - not a sprint - of adapting and responding to political, economic and ecological chaos, I want to shout out that I think we had better get good at building in recovery time... and respecting it.
Maybe more than we ever have.
I'm still reading Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto, by Tricia Hersey. The medicine of this particular book feels like perfect timing. If you've never read it, I recommend it.
So often, it's when we feel we can't afford to rest that we most need to.
I wish you the internal fortitude and community support to weave more recovery time into your life and calendar in the coming year.
Recovery can be nurtured in so many different ways, depending on our context and temperament. In one season, recovery might require solitude, while for another, it's topped up by social connection. It's not a one-size-fits-all formula.
What might recovery look and feel like for you right now?
Even if it feels elusive, I encourage you to jot down a few ideas.
And every drop of recovery counts.
If you can't, let's say, plot a week-long retreat, what is accessible?
Instead of scrolling, maybe you could protect fifteen minutes to lie down or make yourself a cup of tea. ☕
Let's get scrappy and creative about recovery.
As for me, I better walk my talk: I'm doing well in recovering from a recent acute Covid infection, but aiming to still go gently.... and to prioritize getting a TON of sleep.
If this post resonates with you, please drop a comment below to let me know what you’re navigating and how recovery could support you these days.
P.S. If you want more support to embrace recovery time, check out Safe to Rest, a free resource I created to help you slow down and nurture yourself in a busy life and hyper-productive society. XO
Nicola Holmes is a Change & Transition Coach who helps people turn their potent questions, dreams and goals into inspired action. With warmth and wisdom, she’ll guide you to untangle constraints and cultivate courage to create a more aligned and joyful life. She has a BASc in Human Development, an MEd in Adult Learning and spent two decades working in the non-profit sector. Along with coaching for 17 years, she’s a mama to two spirited kids and supported by Buddhism. Having experienced Long-Covid and a move, she brings empathy to others exploring how they’ve changed and who they’re becoming in turbulent times. Check out Nicola at @nicolaholmescoach or join the email party for encouragement to fuel the changes you want.