A day of rest one way or another

Today’s Theme: Day of Rest

Kick your feet up! What is your ideal day in? When you’re having a bad day,
or a long week – how do you relax, recharge, and reset yourself?

Did I mention I have an overly-developed work ethic?  I was raised to embrace the attitude that you don’t rest until everything on the “to do list” is done. I honestly believe that if it wasn’t for Migraine, Cluster Headache, and Fibromyalgia, I might never rest at all.

Involuntary Rest

This is a “Do-Not-Ask-Questions, Do-Not-Pass-Go, Do-Not-Collect-$200” mandatory kind of rest created by the complete inability to do anything except breathe…maybe. It used to be that the threat only came from the gut-wrenching nausea and head-splitting pain of migraine attacks.  Now it can also arrive in the form of post-cluster attack exhaustion or the burning muscle pain of fibromyalgia. It occurs so frequently that my free time is often spent catching up on laundry or clearing piles of dirty dishes off the kitchen counters. On the rare occasion that I have more than a day or two, I might even go shopping for such luxuries as medications or groceries.

Voluntary Rest

This type of rest is much more elusive. It’s the kind of rest my family wishes I would do instead, secretly wishing that it would somehow make the other kind obsolete. In truth, they know that one will not prevent the other.

I’d love to, really. I’d watch Grimm episodes while spending endless hours scrap booking. If time allowed, I might even pull out the charcoal pencils for some sketching. Then there are bubble baths to take, and the baking of some decadent deserts.

But now we’ve gone too far. After all, dreaming too big has been known to release the “pain monsters”. I’m still recovering from pneumonia, so let’s not push it.

How about I just settle for a shower and some clean clothes?