TimeOut

My body has spoken. I need to slow down. Some people don't listen to their mind when it tells them to slow down so it falls upon their bodies to send them the message. This has been a difficult week. My PhD progression report deadline is a few days away and while I have made considerable progress it still has to all come together. I still have to make travel arrangements for next month, and complete an assignment for a course I am taking. I lost my wallet a few days ago and while I coped well, it was a source of stress. And, today I left my phone and money at home, so I had to come back to fetch them. I could always have borrowed money from my colleagues, but the thought that I might have lost my phone would have distracted me from work.
I would have put all this aside and powered through if not for the physical signs--all classic symptoms of stress/anxiety--unsettled stomach, feeling like I am about to fall sick with a flu, lack of energy (funnily enough, I have been sleeping better for the past few days although insomnia is another of my anxiety symptoms). And my maser symptom--dizziness/lightheadedness which has given me no end of grief over the past two  years. Now, I don't panic when I feel dizzy, I just treat it as a sign that I need to slow down. Radical self-care is about being aware of your symptoms and acting to take preventive action. Seeing the hole and stepping around it before you fall in it. Of course, it doesn't mean giving everything up, which would inevitably cause more anxiety. It means prioritizing, giving up on the less important things to do, finding ways to make life easy for yourself. And, most importantly, not feeling weak or inadequate for being stressed.