Learning How to Take Breaks Outdoors
This blog short originally appeared on Instagram. Follow me at @disabledinthewild7
Sometimes my adventures look like the happy, smiling photos I usually share, and sometimes my adventures look like this. Some days my body just needs more rest and support, so I snuggle up on the riverbed for a while and trust that, soon, everything will be okay.
Sometimes my pain level is so high that I feel like I'm going to throw up. Sometimes my body isn't tolerating the heat, my heart is racing, and I'm having heart palpitations. Sometimes I'm thigh-deep in the middle of the river when I'm suddenly struck with dizziness and the unmistakable feeling that I'm about to pass out.
So, I stop, I listen, I tend to my body, I give it the support it's requesting, and I hope that after 20 minutes, 30 minutes, or an hour, the symptoms will ease and my body will allow me to return to my adventures.
Do I want to take a break? Fuck no. I have to argue with myself every. damn. time., because I would apparently rather stubborn my way through the symptoms until I'm completely miserable and having no fun at all.
I have to remind myself that if I don't stop, I'll just feel worse and worse, and it will have lasting consequences for the days to come; that a short break now could mean spending more time on my adventure overall, and that I'll be much less miserable both during and after.
In the end, I am always glad that I took that extra long break, not just because it helps my body hit the reset button, but because I genuinely enjoy resting in nature. It's an intimate way of spending time outdoors- to be flaring and having scary and overwhelming symptoms, and trust that I am as safe resting here as I am at home. It's something quite special that I never would have known if I was not chronically ill and disabled.
‘Pushing through' is not the only strength we carry. Listening & supporting, softness & gentleness, resting & pacing are all strengths too.
Take good care of you, chronically ill adventurers.
To read more about resting on adventures, check out this post:
www.disabledinthewild.com/blog/the-importance-of-rest-on-adventures
