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I know I’m not the first person to tell you this, and I really hope I won’t be the last.
It’s very reasonable not to be okay right now. Things are very much not okay! Letting that affect you isn’t weakness or giving in — it’s a natural response when you think about the world outside and when you empathize with the other people harmed by it.
You are not “working from home during a pandemic”. You are *surviving* a once-in-century pandemic, which is being “managed” by a death cult of semi-competent fascists. Getting through the day and staying safe month to month are absolutely vital goals just on their own!
If you feel like you’re doing your best work right now, I’m really happy for you! But do me a favor and make sure that you’re not missing the warning signs for burnout? There’s a lot going on and it’s not easy to keep track of all the ways that might be making you feel.
And if you don’t think you can push yourself to 100% productivity right now, please make sure you’re giving yourself space to feel that way. I’m not just talking about the essentials of self care — though that’s always an important foundation.
It’s difficult to acknowledge and accept anything less than peak productivity at all times. So many of the signals around us repeat the lie that work and productivity are the primary measures of one’s personal worth. And nobody reinforces that as intensely as we do for ourselves.
This is me giving you permission to be unproductive. And I don’t mean just switching from productive work to productive recreation like your sourdough starter or that novel you keep telling yourself to write.
I’m talking about real and *unproductive* rest. Not rest so that you can come back and work harder. Your goal isn’t to be the most efficient worker you can be! Rest because being kind to yourself is worthwhile on its own.
