When You Just Don’t Feel Like Adventuring

Hello kind krafters!

      For this week I thought we’d try something a little different. Most of my posts here are about my adventures and recreational passions, which, usually, take up most of the free time I have outside of work. I love to be outdoors and I tend to have a lot of energy and stamina to spend my days hiking or kayaking or a mix of two. But these last two weeks have been the complete opposite. I’ve been sick, battling a throat virus that took a week and a half to properly diagnose and get the right treatment for. As a result, I’ve had little to no energy, and most nights have fallen asleep on the couch before ten o’clock. This leaves little time for adventure, and makes the short hikes I have done feel like marathons. I planned to have this post be about a mini-hiking trip I took right when I started feeling better, to a woodlot which practices integrated forest management. But the trip was rainy and I was too tired to explore all of the offshoots from the main 3km trail, and in the end complications with my camera meant I couldn’t access any of the photos I took for this post. So instead let’s talk about those times when you just don’t feel like adventuring. 

​As I mentioned, I’ve been sick. What I thought was just a summer cold, turned into a diagnosis of strep throat, to an allergic reaction to an antibiotic, to a blood test that found nothing, to a final diagnosis of an infection, that now is finally being treated properly and nearly gone. Over the course of the above outlined events of the past two weeks, my usual overflowing energy to go to work, and then head out on a hike and get home to do yoga and fall asleep ready to do it again for the rest of the week, was completely gone. As someone who wants to always be outside experiencing nature and the world, that’s hard.

         I’ve never enjoyed the feeling of being sick, like most people for obvious reasons. But for me, it has always carried that additional feeling of disappointment. Disappointment in myself for not being able to jump up off the couch and go on a 5km hike. Especially now as I work to complete the final trails for my internship project, and enjoy the last month of sunshine and warm summer weather before we move into Nova Scotia fall and winter. There were days I planned to go on a short hike, only to find myself so tired I drove immediately home and laid down for three hours instead. Or planned to get up and do yoga, only to fall asleep on the couch at eight o’clock at night. 

First hike after being sick, 2.4km Old Annapolis Road loop. 

​It’s been tough. But we all have these moments. We all have times when we are too tired or worn out to go on an adventure, even when it’s all we may want to do. We all have times when we just can’t convince ourselves to get off of the warm couch and turn off Netflix, to go outside and wander around. And, living in a world that rewards busyness and often gives us the feeling that we’re weak if we don’t push past our exhaustion and just go do it, we all have those moments when we’re disappointed in ourselves for not getting up and going.

         But, just as much as I need adventure, I also need rest and rehabilitation when adventure becomes an impossibility. Self-care and rest are not practices to be ashamed of, nor are they tools to shun in the face of an illusion that we just need to suck it up and toughen up. As difficult as it may be, sometimes we need to spend that sunny day curled up on the couch watching Netflix and drinking water, or falling asleep in the hammock with a book, in order to able to spend the next sunny day hiking for six hours. And this need for rest and recovery when we’re sick or ill or just not feeling capable of adventuring, is nothing ever to be ashamed or disappointed or angry about. Below are a few tips I’ve learned from my last few weeks of rest and recovery and the process of working myself back up to daily adventures.

Puppy cuddles when you are sick are also recommended. 

• Sit outside every day, even if just for 5 minutes in the morning and evening. Fresh air helps you feel better and will help soothe the desire to jump up and go adventure when you’re not quite well enough to do so.
• Read. A book, a magazine, a comic book, a graphic novel, a cookbook, an article etc. etc. Again, even if just for 5 minutes. It helps me clear my head and get my brain activated on those days I’ve been stuck on the couch watching TV.
• Start slow. Work yourself back up to your old schedule and your adventures, slowly. Go for a calming walk, or a do a short hike and then take a day off to rest. Opt for two short hiking days in a row instead of one extra-long day while you’re still getting back to your old routine.
• Sleep. Get as much rest as you can and don't feel bad about falling asleep early and getting up late. Your body needs it.
• Take a vitamin. When you’re just starting to feel better, but your energy still isn’t quite there, this can help a lot.
• Remind yourself it’s more than ok to rest and relax and recover. 
  
  
  

Share with me you’re tips for feeling better and your experiences of getting back to adventure after some time off!

And as always,
Stay Kind,
Niki <3