I had to remind myself that productivity is not my central value. I typically take Fridays away from work, and I keep that time away pretty sacrosanct. But goodness, I hit Thursday, and my mind, body, and spirit said, “Stop working.”
I didn’t want to stop, mostly because this is the schedule that I had set for myself. But it’s important to listen to our bodies, especially when we have the ability to be flexible. How are we supposed to act during a siege of Capitol Hill? What’s a typical workday during an attempted coup? How about threats of domestic terrorism?
I did listen to my body. I had to do that. Productivity isn’t my central value, though sometimes I want to keep going because I feel that’s what I can control within a whirlwind of what’s beyond our control.
Care is my central value.
Sometimes, that means, stop. And if we can advocate for others to have choices to stop — if we can pick up the load at times so that everyone has the freedom to choose this — that is a good and helpful thing.
Smuggling Grace 