How much recovery time do you need?
I think that obviously, it is going to have multiple variables involved, from age, to health, to type of activities. This means that it is going to be personal, so it is hard to say what is required in general. However, just because it is personal, it doesn't mean that the individual has the best understanding of what they need to recover.
For instance, a smoker will claim that a cigarette relaxes them. But all it is doing is taking away the stress of withdrawal, the craving of a cigarette. Similarly, a depressed person could spend twelve hours asleep, but still feel that they need more sleep, because they are still tired. And there are many, many examples that could be used and you can probably pull some up from your own life, or observations of others.
My point is, that while we all need recovery, how we recover isn't necessarily the best way to meet our needs. A lot of people get home from work, sit down on the couch in front of a screen, and say that this is what they need to recover. But, I suspect that while not an acute problem, it leads to a lower amount of resilience, which means that more stress is experienced, and more recovery time is required. Instead of changing their flawed process, people double-down on what is actually one of the causes of their problem, not a cure.
But it feels right.
I think it is a logical flaw where we believe we know ourselves the best, because we aren't as honest without ourselves as we are as with our appraisal of others. We somehow feel that we are special and require special consideration, but everyone else is average, so a blanket approach is fine. Every doctor has had patients come in and say that "their flu" is different to the flu going around that the doctor has seen a hundred times already.
Take a rest and recover.
But how do you recover? What is the best way for you?
Are you sure about that?
Is your recovery process a help, or a hinderance? And only you can really decide which, but you are also the one who is going to have to live with the consequences. The problem is, that most people seem to think that because they are so unique, the things that other people do aren't suitable for them. For instance, one of my go-to examples is about exercising, where people say they are too tired, and need to recover. But, the gym is full of people who work in similar ways to themselves, and are energised by the exercise.
But they all must be completely different kinds of people.
I get it. People are different. But, everyone also has to acknowledge that there is far more overlap than difference when it comes to our physical and mental traits. Where we differ the most and what makes the most difference between each other, is how we feel about our experience. All things can be the same, yet how we each feel in identical conditions can vary wildly.
Does that mean what others do won't work for me, because I feel different to them?
Nope.
For the most part, if we want to improve ourselves in a particular area, the way that is likely to work is going to be the ways people who are already good in that area become so. It is essentially, do what they do, and get similar results. Sure, natural talent and genetics might play a role at more elite levels, but for the basics, do what others have done. You want to get fit? Lift weights and exercise. You want to lose fat, eat better.
It isn't rocket science.
So what does this mean if we want to recover though? Well, do what the people who recover the fastest do. I will give you a hint - it isn't sit in front of a screen doing nothing. It might not be at the gym or going for a run either, but there are better ways than passively consuming as a cure to feeling tired - or bored.
I don't know what the best way to recover for you is, but for me personally, it isn't in passivity - it is in activity. I write for my head and emotions, and I move for my body. When I am tired, I do something useful - even if I don't want to do it. Because I know through experience that when I do useful things, and think enough about things that are important to me, I sleep better. I recover better.
But, no one has the time and are far too tired to learn better ways to recover from a life that at the end of the day, isn't actually all that hard. Many work behind desks and buy their food from the market, and don't have to worry about being eaten by a wild animal each day.
But we feel life is hard.
So it is.
Taraz
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