Lyme Life Monday ~Rest or Rest

There is no escaping it really. Sometimes you just have to rest. If you choose to push through and force yourself to keep going after your body clearly tells you that you need rest, at some point you have no more options. Bodies break down. They are fragile, even when we think we are invincible.

When we moved into our house, more than 20 years ago, the tulip in the photo was already there. I didn’t see it for a few years. Then, it was just one leaf for a couple of years. I knew it was a plant that someone had put there, so I just left it and cultivated around it. I didn’t recognize what it was, only that it looked like it had a purpose, more than a weed. It has a certain dignity.

It was years before I saw the first flower. I fed and cared for it and some years there are a few flowers. The wall is moved by the plow every year. So, this year, it is growing between the rocks and still it blooms.

Tulips rest for half the year. They are brilliant when they bloom. That is their design. In the right environment, they may have more flowers and they might multiply, but they will still rest for the seasons between blossoms.

For Lymies, rest is not an option. You must. Lyme disease can cause insomnia, but even when you are awake, you won’t have the energy to do much, if anything. Your body will simply not allow any more pushing through. For many people, finding the right amount of rest can begin a new normal for life.

Treatment options are enough to fill books and books. Protocols that work for some people, don’t help others. Many things do help many people. Universally, whether a person has Lyme or not, they need rest.

One young lady was telling of her experience of not sleeping for months. Then, sleeping for months, unable to do anything else. Thankfully, she had someone to take care of her. That isn’t how we are designed. We are designed for a daily rest, as we sleep through the night and a weekly rest of just relaxing and connecting with the people in our lives. The sleep is super important, but so is the recreation.

Many of us do not adhere to a schedule at all. We stay up late, get up early, work seven days a week and run on empty for months at a time.

They told me I had Yuppy Flu in the 80s when I got really sick the first time. I saw a dozen doctors. They ruled out everything from AIDs to MS and everything in between. Doctors had decided that the increasing demands of high-functioning urban professionals had somehow become an autoimmune trigger and people were getting sick from life. We were sent home to fend for ourselves and the medical community, for the most part, said we were delusional. They changed the name to Chronic Fatigue, then, Fibromyalgia. Now, it’s a real thing, but is it a disease or a symptom?

Regardless, people with chronic illness live with a new normal. This new normal might mean a different level of rest than you’ve known before. If you are healthy, you probably get good rest, but if not, let this serve as a warning. We become much more susceptible to illness when we do not rest according to our design. We have a unique dignity.

Life is short, but you don’t need to fill it so full with activity that you neglect to rest. You’re not a human doing. You are a human being.

Like the flower in the photo above, you can blossom brilliantly where ever you are.

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