Thank you for visiting my own substack today. I feel like you are an already friend -- like we have much in common. I so look forward to reading here. Here's to rest and the alleviation of exhaustion.
I’m sorry for your season of struggle with family illness and exhaustion, Lindsey, not to mention exhaustion with murderous world events. I hope you get a respite soon. I always get so much from your thoughtful, esthetically pleasing writing. This time you gave me a gift I waited for all my working life: THIS BOOK: Rest Is Resistance!! Finally a book about “rest as anything that ‘pushes back and disrupts a system that views human bodies as tools for labor and production.’” American life has many virtues, but it is nothing if not exhausting because our capitalist culture values humans mainly as tools of constant production rather than as the inherently beautiful valuable beings we are. Many of us require (as in survival!) frequent time away from relentless productive drive to realize our humanness and our attunement to life and being. Without it, we wither and suffer. I am overjoyed to hear about this book, described as an “instant New York Times bestseller,” which ought to tell us something about how desperate many Americans are for rest from the production death march. Thank you for sharing this book with us. May you soon find soul-refreshing rest.
Read your newsletter with a cup of warm coffee before another slate of clients and it was the perfect rest. I love your writing so much!
Same freeze warning here and my kids also have coughs- and my heart is with your daughter freaking out in the pediatrician office! I feel that too! I’m so glad for her she has you to help calm and ground her though.
I’ve wanted say I love reading your substack. It always feels like candlelight in winter: warm, welcoming, offering just the right amount of light.
A practice that has developed naturally out of ED recovery and respecting my neurodivergence, and that also feels revolutionary, is recognizing when my body wants to sit or lie down and honouring that. Lying down is an integral way my nervous system regulates itself, so I’ll frequently find myself lying down for 10 minutes before doing dishes or while playing with my daughter, before heading out the door or after getting home.
I started OT for my daughter this month, and I’ve been amazed to see how the types of activities our OT recommends, Elizabeth is already seeking out. I had been getting stressed out by how she plays with a spare mattress: crashing into it, climbing up it and falling down, making it fall on top of her, then lifting it up--but these are all the kinds of activities that help her integrate sensory information. I just think it’s interesting that if we stop heaping judgment on our bodies (“your disrespecting property” or, in my case, “your so lazy”), our bodies are telling us exactly what we need in order to be whole.
Shaina, thank you for your kind words. They’ve made my night. 🩷
Lying down is so simple, but I almost never let myself do it during the day! I love that you’ve found a great therapist for your kid - and yes, I have found they my anxious kid often knows exactly what they need. One time she told me after wearing a life jacket at the pool - Can I get one of those for at home when I just need a good squeeze? 🥰
Thank you for visiting my own substack today. I feel like you are an already friend -- like we have much in common. I so look forward to reading here. Here's to rest and the alleviation of exhaustion.
I’m sorry for your season of struggle with family illness and exhaustion, Lindsey, not to mention exhaustion with murderous world events. I hope you get a respite soon. I always get so much from your thoughtful, esthetically pleasing writing. This time you gave me a gift I waited for all my working life: THIS BOOK: Rest Is Resistance!! Finally a book about “rest as anything that ‘pushes back and disrupts a system that views human bodies as tools for labor and production.’” American life has many virtues, but it is nothing if not exhausting because our capitalist culture values humans mainly as tools of constant production rather than as the inherently beautiful valuable beings we are. Many of us require (as in survival!) frequent time away from relentless productive drive to realize our humanness and our attunement to life and being. Without it, we wither and suffer. I am overjoyed to hear about this book, described as an “instant New York Times bestseller,” which ought to tell us something about how desperate many Americans are for rest from the production death march. Thank you for sharing this book with us. May you soon find soul-refreshing rest.
Yes!! I’m about halfway thru - I hope you love it Chuck!
"Life is not an emergency." Yes!
Read your newsletter with a cup of warm coffee before another slate of clients and it was the perfect rest. I love your writing so much!
Same freeze warning here and my kids also have coughs- and my heart is with your daughter freaking out in the pediatrician office! I feel that too! I’m so glad for her she has you to help calm and ground her though.
Thank you so much, Christine ❤️❤️ that really means so much.
Hope you all enjoyed your trick or treat blizzard!! I would’ve been pissed if it hadn’t been so annoyingly magical.
I’ve wanted say I love reading your substack. It always feels like candlelight in winter: warm, welcoming, offering just the right amount of light.
A practice that has developed naturally out of ED recovery and respecting my neurodivergence, and that also feels revolutionary, is recognizing when my body wants to sit or lie down and honouring that. Lying down is an integral way my nervous system regulates itself, so I’ll frequently find myself lying down for 10 minutes before doing dishes or while playing with my daughter, before heading out the door or after getting home.
I started OT for my daughter this month, and I’ve been amazed to see how the types of activities our OT recommends, Elizabeth is already seeking out. I had been getting stressed out by how she plays with a spare mattress: crashing into it, climbing up it and falling down, making it fall on top of her, then lifting it up--but these are all the kinds of activities that help her integrate sensory information. I just think it’s interesting that if we stop heaping judgment on our bodies (“your disrespecting property” or, in my case, “your so lazy”), our bodies are telling us exactly what we need in order to be whole.
Shaina, thank you for your kind words. They’ve made my night. 🩷
Lying down is so simple, but I almost never let myself do it during the day! I love that you’ve found a great therapist for your kid - and yes, I have found they my anxious kid often knows exactly what they need. One time she told me after wearing a life jacket at the pool - Can I get one of those for at home when I just need a good squeeze? 🥰