Anyone Else Suck At Self-Care 101: Convalescing?

by | May 7, 2025 | News

In yet another timely reminder that information alone does not produce behaviour change – Exhibit A – myself.  The unspoken beauty of living in the Byron shire is that when any festivals come to town so too does the flu & to the entire community, whether you attended it or not. And it’s reliably never a middle of the road virus, with its bacterial back-up band, but something that wandered in from the set of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (my personal fave in the series).  But I had already forgotten the Easter Bluesfest and mistakenly thought it a grand idea to get out and about for a boogie amongst all kinds of festival-folk!

When I got the first little clues I responded from an informed ‘information-centric’ place
And all my training, my knowledge, my years of clinical experience, took the shape of supplements and potions and teas and lotions
I threw absolutely everything at it


…except rest. 

I couldn’t stop I had delivery deadlines, I told myself and my team. “I’ll just push through these presentations,” I croaked. Increasingly aware I had definitely undone the efforts of my own immune system and that this was madness, I told myself, ‘I’ll rest just as soon as I can’. Then two days of complete collapse. Rest repair recovery. I wake up on the other side and know absolutely that order has been restored. I’ve finally given my immunity and this recovery process what nothing in a bottle ever could: Convalescence. I want to sing it from the rafters! I am in first year naturopathy all over again, enlightened, inspired, evangelical even (I know we were annoying). 

And I feel amazing 🌟
The sun has come out again 🌈
Both metaphorically mentally but literally too
and there’s this light lovely breeze, perfect for airing rooms and doing washing, lots of it, and brush-cutting and…

I kid you not…I have learned nothing…🤐

When will I ever transfer the incredible therapeutic value of convalescence into my long-term memory?!🙄 Anyone else?

Photo by Ann Danilina on Unsplash

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Rachel Arthur

Rachel Arthur

With over 30 years of experience in the clinic and the ‘classroom’ as one of the leading practitioners and educators in integrative nutrition and health, Rachel Arthur has attracted a large following of clinicians who value her independent, unbiased education and leadership.

 

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