SLC-S29/W6-“Thinking and Ideas!| One Idea Worth Spreading!”

Greetings and welcome to my blog. It’s been six beautiful weeks of thinking and sharing beautiful ideas in different spheres and I am glad to be a part of this week’s beautiful challenge about ideas that will improve lives both locally and globally.

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These past weeks have been a roller coaster of experiences for me and in my bid to survive and make a living for myself, I beg to differ but since we are all about clarity, purpose and impact, one idea I believe could improve lives is the
idea that healing is not weakness, and rest is not laziness.

Before you judge, hear me out…

Share one idea you believe could improve lives (locally or globally).

We are in a world that celebrates hustle, Constant productivity and strength and sometimes we forget that we are not machines. We tend to forget that We are emotional beings, we often forget that we are fragile, we forget that we are human beings who can be exhausted and have wounds and silent battles we fight.

We work from dusk to dawn all in a bid to make ends meet. In the city where I live, I see people who leave for work as early as 5am and return late in the night and leave early the next morning and they have been doing that month in month out as if they are machines but these are humans.

We tend to forget that we are fragile, we are emotionally beings, a lot of us are wounded and have no one to help pour oil into our wounds. When you are wounded and seek respite, you are seen as a weakling without a drive for life and we can’t help but try to perform to please and show people that we are up and doing and that we are hustlers and know what we are doing while all we need is to just slow down and breath.

I am saying this because of the last place I just saw myself in. Battling a heart break and needed some respite for myself but there are pressures here and there telling me to stand up and move on with my life like it’s that easy. I’ve laid days in bed to just rest and recuperate from the emotional trauma I’ve been through but it seems I am letting my life slip away and being lazy.

Sometimes all we need is healing and rest. Healing is not weakness and rest is not laziness. People should have this emotional intelligence as it would help us support our loved ones who are probably passing through emotional hard times or exhaustion from different areas of life. It mustn’t be relationships alone. Heartbreak and exhaustion can come from family, financial loss, health loss, relationships loss and etc.

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When people break, they should be supported and allowed to gently heal and rest. Telling them to get up on their feet and get moving on with life doesn’t help. Some heal faster while others don’t. Which ever way, the idea that healing, rest or taking time to heal is a sign of weakness shouldn’t be and people should be allowed to rest from all the wariness of life and not be tagged lazy. We only have one life to live and it shouldn’t be treated like it’s a sprint. It’s okay to breath, it’s okay to pause and rest without being judged.

If rest and emotional healing is normalized, people’s behaviors towards one another would be improved and these people in-turn will become better, kinder and warmer members of the society and would also know how to support others who are going through similar ordeals without judgement.

Why is this idea important now?

This idea is important now because our generation is overwhelmed. A lot of people are struggling with mental health issues, depression, burnouts, anxiety and silent suffering has become the order of the day or the new normal.

A lot of people are victims of the pressure to be strong, move on with their life no matter what, people are being encouraged to try harder and keep pushing even when it’s obvious they are breaking.

Our social media is amplifying perfection, success and people are busy comparing themselves with others even while in serious pain. More than we can admit right now, people need the permission to heal, to be free, to pause and to be human without feeling guilty or pressured.

Who do you feel needs to hear this idea the most?

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A lot of people in different categories of life should hear this idea. Starting from we the young adults who are trying to navigate through life, trying to survive adulthood, expectations, pressure and carry responsibilities without support.

Our parents who are tired but feel that they should always be strong. Our men who have been taught that a show of emotion is weakness. Who ever said men don’t cry? That’s why they die so easily because of the myriads of emotions they have to conceal all in a bid to be strong and termed a man. Men should know that it’s okay to cry.

Basically everyone who feels tired, exhausted or emotionally drained at some point but thinks that resting or taking a break is failure.

What is the first small step someone could take to begin?

The fisrt small steps we could begin to take is very simple:

• We must start by being honest with ourselves. We must admit when we are tired. Admit when something hurts us. We must admit when we don’t feel okay and then take one small action; rest without feeling guilty.
• Ask for help. We are humans and not machines, so it’s okay to ask for help.
• Talk to someone. Problem shared they say is half solved. We must learn to talk to someone we trust. No need holding all of that emotions in.
• We must learn to say no when our body says no. Choose healthy boundaries. It’s okay to say no.

Healing does not start with big changes, it starts with permission. Permission to be human.