The final part of this blog series intends to offer up some useful questions to pose yourself with whichever option that you take: time out, or continuation with your occupation.
In either scenario, the practice of sitting down on a regular occasion to evaluate how last week went and draw up a plan for the week is extremely valuable to take stock of where things are at from a zoomed-out perspective. A Sunday afternoon review was a habit I begun in my recovery to identify and update what goals I was setting for the following week and how I was giving myself the best chance of completing them. This habit is actually something I continue to do today with my work and it really helps me keep a grasp of what’s coming up and gain some clarity of where I could do with making some alterations to ensure everything balances out – my home commitments, my social life and my work.
If you choose not to take time out, here are 2 questions that may be relevant to ask yourself:
1. What aspects of your daily routines could you tweak to free up time?
Some examples:
Could a family member or friend take on X role once per week?
What unnecessary chores are being done to keep conveniently distracted and up on your feet?
Could work arrangements be adjusted to allow for time split between in office and online, or contractual hours be shifted to suit a recovery timetable?
Could lunch/snacks breaks be extended?
2. What aspects of your daily routines could you tweak to reduce stress?
Some examples:
Could your lunch break be taken at a different time to individuals who consistently discuss unhelpful topics or in a location where obvious triggers were limited?
Could a coursework extension be requested on health grounds/
What unnecessary chores are being done to keep conveniently distracted and up on your feet?
More general questions
What would your days look like if I was genuinely prioritising recovery?
How are you absolutely ensuring that you aren’t just going about ‘life as usual’?
What arrangements are you making that are allowing you to be more concerted to tackle your ED?
If you are taking some time out, here as some questions to pose to yourself:
How do you structure your day to keep you sane, and it you’re your actions intentionally recovery orientated?
What fears do you need to address and goals do you need to set?
In the first few days, who is checking-in ensure that recovery is taking center stage, and you are resting and eating as you should?
Who are you meeting to ensure you are not losing all social contact and becoming unhelpfully reclusive?
o Who are you calling on what day?
o Who are you meeting where?
o Are there any recovery-relevant activities that you can combine with a social meeting?
What restful activities do you want to do in the time you have off?
o Books you might want to read, hobbies you might want to trial, or resurrect from times past, interesting professional development activities – that are appealing yet manageable.
o What activities are offline and keep you away from potentially toxic online communities and comparison?
How are you ensuring that any routines remain dynamic and don’t just settle at a new disordered normal?
Remember: this is a time for discovery. Whether you’re giving yourself time away from some of your occupations or not, this is an opportunity for explore and find out what you really enjoy doing, beyond scrolling on Ocado, reading TripAdvisor reviews of restaurants in a city you are travelling to in 2 months, or preparing food for other people that you won’t eat yourself. This is a time for letting exploration and expansion happen, for letting intellectual interests shift, for surprising people that you are now more opinionated in conversations, for finding a new film genre you love, for realising you are somebody who doesn’t actually hate lying in on a rainy weekend, or perhaps for realising you do enjoy going to a pub beer garden on a Friday night despite it being quite nosy.
This time is crucial to letting recovery do what it has the potential to do.. to open up your entire life and rediscover. Whether you make the decision to take some time out or not, if you are currently in quasi-recovery, something definitely has to change if you want to experience change.
As ever, thanks very much for reading. I hope this offered some pause for thought.
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