And ode to rest and relaxation

I know it’s been a looong while since most of us have been on a plane, but bear with me here.

I think we can all agree that the most boring part about actually getting on a plane is sitting through the safety demonstration. Especially if you travel one every few weeks and have to see the same damn thing over and over again.

But even through the boredom of it all, one line that always stood out to me was this:

Help yourself before helping others.

It doesn’t matter if the other person is a close friend or relative (in fact, in most safety videos, they are). You can only truly help someone once you’ve taken care of yourself.

With everything that’s been happening this year, that lesson is more applicable to the real world than ever.

As I’m writing this, the country is in the midst of one of the most crucial elections in the history of the United States.

It’s also recovering from a global pandemic, a civil rights crisis after the murder of George Floyd, and so much more.

Many of you might’ve gotten sick this year, or had family members who fell ill. You might’ve felt lost and disoriented as WFOC seeing what’s happening to your community at the hands of racism. You might’ve felt like you needed time off to just wrap yourself up in a blanket and sleep for hours.

But you quickly shook that idea and got back to work, business as usual.

Why?

Why the fuck do we feel the need to disregard what our bodies are asking from us?

Why are we so averse to the concept of rest?

Maybe it’s because as WFOC, we’re conditioned to work, the same way our ancestors have had to work to survive.

However, we’re not trying to do things the way they’ve always been done.

We’re trying to be goddamn revolutionary.

And to me, the pillar of being revolutionary is moving away from the survivalist mindset we ALL carry with us, and move towards thriving.

So, if you’re reading this, I want you to give yourself permission to take care of yourself.

Maybe stay away from social media.

Maybe cut down on some of the client work you had planned for the day. I know this may seem terrifying (ya’ girl has been there), but trust me, when you give yourself the permission to rest, you’re giving your clients the permission to take some time off for themselves too.

And my god, wouldn’t this world be an incredible place if ALL of us, especially WOC, allowed ourselves to rest when we needed to?

Because again, we can only help others if we help ourselves first.

Until next time,

Gieselle.

PS – These times are stressful for all of us. If you want to reach out to me, feel free to hit reply to this email or join my Facebook group where we’ll be checking in with each other all month long!