The Day I Cancelled Everything.

Listening to My Body

Yesterday I woke up and knew straight away something wasn’t right. My stomach was sore, I felt shaky, and honestly, I just felt off.

My first thought? Get dressed, push on, get through the day. That old habit of “battling on” is still so ingrained in me. I even started getting ready for work, telling myself I’d be fine once I got moving.

But then this big, loud NOPE! rang through me. And I realised—I didn’t have to fight through this. I didn’t have to force it.

If a client turns up for appointment with me and they are noticably ill, It makes me feel EW. Why was I pushing myself to turn up ill for my clients? I really thought I’d be able to shake it off, but as I got to the front door, I thought “this isn’t going to end well”

So I stopped. I cancelled my clients. I got back into bed. I slept from about 9am til 5pm so I really did put in sleep shift.

And in that moment, I gave myself permission to rest.

It’s not always easy to do, is it? There’s that little voice whispering about letting people down, about being “lazy,” about how much we “should” be able to handle. But the truth is, our bodies know. And yesterday mine was crystal clear: Slow down. Breathe. Stop.

Resting doesn’t come naturally to me, but I’m learning that it’s not weakness—it’s wisdom. It’s my body’s way of saying, Take care of me, so I can take care of you.

So yesterday, that’s what I did. And I’m reminding myself (and maybe you need the reminder too): It’s okay to stop. It’s okay to cancel. It’s okay to go back to bed.

Because the world doesn’t fall apart when you rest—but you might if you don’t.

Does this sound relatable? I truly didn’t want to let down my clients but the cost to me would have been a lot bigger.

I think I just picked up a 24 hour horrible stomach bug. I feel better today writing this, but lesson learned!

Have you done this before? Tried to push through?