There is no medal to be won for how long we can go without taking a break. 

Because your body doesn’t care that you’ve had a week off, that it’s Monday and you planned to go back to training—something I reminded myself of yesterday.

After yet another session of going through the motions last week, I decided to take some time off— but I had some resistance to this, which simply took the form of me continuing to push through, ignoring the fact that my body was exhausted. 

It wasn’t until I stopped and identified some of the thoughts playing in the background that I recognised some old (very familiar) crap circulating around— that I had not been ‘smashing’ my workouts of late, I hadn’t been consistent, and that I didn’t ‘deserve’ a break because I hadn’t ‘earned it’. LOL. I know this voice all too well, having experienced years of disordered eating and compulsive exercise habits, dragging myself through workouts that were nothing short of me trying to torture myself, and where taking a break was training for 2 hours instead of 3.


It had no problem ignoring the fact that I have a 10 week old puppy that I’m running around after all day, or the fact that we’re coming to the end of the year, and that my energy is lower and my body always slows down at this point. Anyone else?

But it’s not until we stop to check-in with ourselves that we notice these old thought-loops that resurface now and again, that no longer serve us, and that are no longer in line with our current belief and value systems. 

You know what doesn’t help though? The fact that we live in a society that values extremes, ‘dedication’, keeping going no matter what, with its ’I’ll sleep when I’m dead’, ’no excuses’ mantras. Crack on with that shit and watch yourself burn out very quickly—there is no medal to be won for how long we can go without taking a break. 

It’s about realising that our rules around taking time off are arbitrary and our bodies don’t give one single fuck about them. Your body doesn’t care that you’ve had your usual amount of rest days, or ‘enough sleep’, or that you’re not ‘due’ to have a week off yet, IT WILL TELL YOU—and it’s our job to listen. 

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I certainly do not derive a sense of worth from running myself into the ground—I do so by deciding that I am worthy of care, and understanding that I am in competition with no one. Because what do I value above all else? Way above getting stronger, making gains, and staying consistent? Looking the fuck after myself. And nothing about that is about ignoring my needs or putting conditions on resting my body. Back to training today and feeling like a Queen 👸💪

Screenshot 2018-12-05 at 09.54.55.png
LUCY SEWELL