Ep. 138: REST. The Self-Care We Forget To Take

This week on Maybe I Can®, I’m talking about something I’ve been wrestling with all summer: the guilt that creeps in when we slow down. Between unexpected home repairs, a scary health scare with my dog Yogi, and a pile of work projects, I found myself running on empty — and still telling myself I couldn’t rest because I’d just been on vacation.

Sound familiar? In this episode, I share what finally made me hit pause, how I reframed my idea of productivity, and why rest isn’t something we have to earn — it’s something we need to survive and thrive.

If you’ve ever felt guilty for doing nothing, I think you’ll feel seen in this conversation.

NEW! The Sprinkle Effect Book!
https://www.debbierweiss.com/thesprinkleeffect


***NEW FREE WORKBOOK**

Kickstart Your New Life with One Critical Step: A Practical Guide for Women Ready to Redefine Their Paths and Embrace New Beginnings.

DOWNLOAD HERE TODAY: https://www.debbierweiss.com/kickstart


MAYBE I CAN BEGIN TO CHANGE MY LIFE

This transformative six-module journey of self-discovery and empowerment includes a printable worksheet and offers lifetime access to all materials. Designed for those facing major life crossroads or simply seeking greater fulfillment, this course is your path to a more purposeful life.

LEARN MORE HERE: https://www.debbierweiss.com/beginchange


Work with Debbie! See all the ways you can work with Debbie to help you live the life you know you're meant for: https://www.debbierweiss.com/workwithdebbie


On Second Thought... Maybe I Can Book on Amazon: https://bit.ly/maybeIcanbook

Connect with Debbie:
Website: https://www.debbierweiss.com/
Instagram: ...

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome and Podcast Reflection
• 2:19 Summer Challenges and Home Repairs
• 4:01 Yogi's Health Scare
• 7:30 Vacation Aftermath and Exhaustion
• 9:22 Learning to Listen to Your Body
• 11:02 Final Thoughts on Self-Care

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hi and welcome back to the Maybe I Can podcast. I'm your host, debbie Weiss, and I gotta be honest with you. I just finished recording an episode and afterwards I thought I don't know, I feel like I just repeated the same things. Is there any value in what I said? I'm sure for some people there will be. But I realized when I had a time several months ago where I was trying to decide should I continue the podcast, should I not continue the podcast? I honestly, with some self-reflection, thought I really don't take enough time to plan and research and figure out what my audience would like to hear and then really prep before the episodes. I would create an outline, but then I would just rant, and when I rant sometimes I go off on tangents and whatever and I decided you know what, the only way that I'm going to continue this podcast is to continue it with being true to myself, and I just feel like the one I just recorded, even though what I said was certainly true to myself, it really wasn't what was on my heart having these parameters in my head, because I'm like, oh, my episode needs to be between 15 and 20 minutes and what I have to say might be too short or maybe that's not very helpful. Maybe it is. You know, I think about what's going on in my own life that you can relate to, because, let's face it, that is what's always the most helpful when you hear someone talk about a situation that they're in or how they're feeling, and if that resonates with you. One, it makes you feel like you're not alone. Two, you might gleam some kind of advice or idea that might be helpful. So, with that said, moving forward, I'm saying this to you and me simultaneously If my episodes are five minutes, they're five minutes, because that's what I want to share with you today, and if they're 25 minutes, fantastic. So I'm going to share with you today what is on my heart and on my mind, and that is this summer has been super challenging for me.

Speaker 1: 2:31

I feel like life has just thrown a lot of curveballs my way. One of the big curveballs has been a lot of things breaking down and needing either repairs or replacements, and the reason that it's a challenge I mean one financially. It's been a tremendous challenge, but even more so is the fact that, when these things come up, this is something that I am not well-versed in. I have no interest in it and it's one of the things that used to be like my husband's deal right Whenever something would break, it would be like, okay, even if he didn't take care of it, we would talk about it. And he'd be like, just call that person and then, when you know that repairman came, he would talk to him about it and that was that. And now I don't have my husband to do those things right. If you're listening for the first time, I'm a widow. My husband died almost two and a half well, not almost two and a half years ago now, and this is one of the things that is a real challenge for me.

Speaker 1: 3:41

And, like I said, I probably have four or five things in the last six weeks that have happened, and some of them pretty major. And then, over the last six weeks that have happened, and some of them pretty major. And then over the last two weeks, yogi, my almost 14-year-old multi-poo, almost died. He had severe pancreatitis which he had two years ago. He almost died then and he's almost 14. And they didn't want to hospitalize him because he also has heart conditions and anxiety and being in the hospital wouldn't really be great for him and so for I don't know, probably seven days in a row I was either with the dog at the vet or the animal hospital. We needed to have injections for three days and, whatever one reason or another, I brought him back. And it got to the point last week week where I had to ask the doctor. At what point do I think about the unthinkable, which I'm not even going to say, and it's the first time that I ever asked that. It's the first time that I had to try and come to terms with the realization that he will not live forever. You have to understand. If you're a dog owner, I know that you can relate.

Speaker 1: 5:17

This dog has been my companion. He comes with me to my insurance office every day. He has since we got him when he was eight weeks old. He sleeps with me, he watches me shower. There is really not a time that I'm without him, and when nobody is in my house he's there with me. So Saturday night I'm not necessarily lonely because Yogi and I are there together watching TV or I'm reading or whatever it is that I'm doing. It's company, and he has been there for me. He's been like my surrogate partner well for years, but in particular since Gary died, it's he and I you know we're a team I talk to him. He doesn't really give me a lot of answers, sometimes he'll just give me the side eye, but he's my companion and so that has been really difficult.

Speaker 1: 6:16

And the week before he got sick thank goodness it didn't happen when we were away, I was away with my kids and one of my son's girlfriends and we met my brother and some of his grown kids and one of my son's girlfriends and we met my brother and some of his grown kids and one of his grandchildren down at Myrtle Beach for a week and it was a really great time. But there was a little bit of my own family drama and it created some tense circumstances that were stressful. What can I say? And last week, when? Well, let me give you an update on Yogi. See, here I am all over the place. I told you I would ramble. Thank goodness Yogi must have known the conversations that I was having, because about two days later he stopped trembling. The trembling was pain. He became himself again, he was going through his toys and he just, you know, you could see he was different and he felt better. So If you can hear that, that's knock on wood. That continues. So far, so good. So I'm thrilled about that.

Speaker 1: 7:29

But while this was all happening, I had to record the podcast. I had to. There's so many, I don't know why I'm saying just the podcast. I'm working on a gratitude journal, I'm working on changing my website and changing something to do with all of my speaking marketing materials, which is quite time-consuming. Of course, I have my regular job and I just felt exhausted and that exhaustion it was very difficult for me to give into the exhaustion I felt guilty. I was telling myself you've just been on vacation for a week. You can't take the time now to sit around and do nothing by doing nothing. Binge-watching something, reading, not doing nothing. Binge watching something, reading, not doing nothing, but not doing what I was thinking I needed to do, which is really self-inflicted right.

Speaker 1: 8:37

And I think that so often we do this, especially as women. We just feel like we don't have a choice, we have to go on and it's not somebody else who is putting these constraints on us, it's us. It's like we're not allowed to be sick, we're not allowed to be tired and, I think, actually getting sick. Sometimes. I've seen in the past, when looking back on my patterns, that when I don't listen to my body. When I don't take the rest that it's telling me that I need, what happens? I do become sick, sometimes so sick that, okay, now I have no choice but to rest right, because my body needs it. And I'm not giving my body what it needs. And what happens? If I don't listen? I get sick, or every day. Am I really accomplishing anything? And if I am, is it the way or the quality that I would like? Probably not, because I'm just going through the motions.

Speaker 1: 9:41

And so I gave myself some grace and I said listen to what your body is telling you. It doesn't matter that you didn't do anything last week when you were on vacation. It doesn't matter that I had a long list of things to do. I listened, particularly last weekend. I really did nothing. As a matter of fact, I wanted to record the podcast over the weekend and on Saturday I knew there was a reason I didn't do it. I don't even remember what it was, and so I was going to do it on Sunday. And then, the next thing, you know, I go to bed on Sunday night and realized, oh no, I never recorded it because I was giving in to what my body needed.

Speaker 1: 10:24

So, with. That said, I want you to think about that. Do you do the same thing where you just keep going because you feel guilty? Don't do it. Trust me. Pay attention to the signs that your body is giving you. You'll appreciate it in the long run. You'll be giving yourself a gift and I'm telling you, you'll be more productive, you'll be happier if you listen to your cues. Okay, that's what I got. That's my rant for today. I hope that little sprinkle of something sparks something inside of you.