I think I speak for all shift workers out there, that our Job is not very friendly towards our bodies. Working a daytime shift for 12 hours one day. A night time shift from 8pm-8 am the other. Sure you might/ would/ should have a day of rest in between, but over a longer period of time you start to notice the downsides of working different times around the clock. Whether you are a nurse, bartender at night in a club, flight attendant or even an airline Goldmember flying all over the globe for business. Our inner clock is NOT somebody who likes to be messed with.
Extreme fluctuation in working periods sometimes leave us extremely fatiqued, no matter how much shut-eye we managed to get in between. Sure it’s managable and in most cases we have chosen our job and wouldn’t want it any other way.
But nearly all of us have had moments ,we were so exhausted, we felt like dying. Am I right?
The fatique we can feel after working all through the night can make us feel surprisingly ill at times. It sometimes even resembles a really bad “sluggish” hangover feeling.
So why is it, that the other day in my freetime, I spent my time lounging around the house doing nothing but catch up on my sitcoms and reading my newly cracked open book ,I was suddenly taken over with guilt? A sudden dread, that I was wasting valuable time doing nothing except sitting around the house like a lazy pig, as the day flew by.
I started feeling unsettled and unhappy with myself. After a good time reflecting and simultaneously gorging on my guilty pleasure of salty Popcorn, I noticed how rest (be it sleep or any form of relaxation) for some people is related to pure laziness. I realised that in puberty with hormones running wild it was my mother, who always gave the feeling of being lazy and unmotivated to do anything productive… Which in those years might have indeed often been the case with me. But now in later years I still carried that message with me in moments of sickness, heartbreak or even in recuperation time after long night shifts.
I needed a friend to jolt me out of it. ,,You have worked nights, your body needs time to get back on track!”
,,Oh thank you for not making me feel bad about myself!!!!! Yes, you are absolutely right even in the bible it does say:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 18:28
Of course it’s great to get out there and do things in your free time, but doing activities is only fun if you have the energy to fully embrace them. Even inspiration sometimes needs a quiet, restful moment to rear it’s head. And every person no matter what job needs time to recharge at times. Shift workers maybe a lot more often.
So better to have more guts over guilt and say: ,, I don’t feel like doing anything today and for no other particular reason than needing a time out. And that is actually quite important for my body and way ok…”
-Take a break-
girlontrack.co 