Monday Health & Wellness

Being Productive Doesn’t Mean You’re Okay

I just heard this statement:

Being productive doesn’t mean you’re okay.

That sat with me because my whole life, I have always shown up.

I showed up while living with an abusive husband.

I showed up as a single mother, getting my children to childcare, going to work, coming home, cooking, cleaning, helping with homework, and preparing to do it all again the next day.

I showed up for artistic projects while living with pain.

I helped care for my grandbaby through pain.

I helped care for my daddy through pain.

I took the bus to work through pain.

I worked from home in physical pain and never allowed the patient on the other end of the telephone to know what I was dealing with in that moment.

I remained pleasant.

I remained professional.

I remained productive.

And people probably assumed I was okay.

But being able to complete a task does not mean your body is not hurting.

Showing up does not mean your spirit is not tired.

Meeting a deadline does not mean you are not emotionally overwhelmed.

Taking care of everybody else does not mean you do not need someone to take care of you.

Sometimes productivity is not evidence that a person is well.

Sometimes it is evidence that they learned how to function while hurting.

For most of my life, I did not believe stopping was an option. There were children to raise, bills to pay, people depending on me, and responsibilities that were not going to disappear because I was tired, afraid, overwhelmed, or in pain.

So I kept moving.

That became my normal.

Until now, I had never missed work because of a disability. I worked through discomfort and adjusted around my body for as long as I could.

Then my body reached a point where determination could no longer do the work that strength and mobility were struggling to do.

That does not mean my disability suddenly appeared when I could no longer show up the same way.

It means I had been showing up with a disability long before other people could see it.

We often praise people for being strong, dependable, productive, and resilient without asking what it costs them to remain that way.

We see the clean house but not the pain it took to clean it.

We see the completed work but not the tears during the break.

We see the caregiver but forget that the caregiver may also need care.

We see someone smiling and assume life must be treating them well.

I am learning that wellness cannot be measured only by what I manage to accomplish.

Real wellness also includes rest, support, boundaries, treatment, and the freedom to admit:

I completed what needed to be done—but I was not okay while doing it.

There is strength in showing up.

But there is also strength in finally telling the truth about what showing up has cost you.

Being productive does not always mean you’re okay.

Sometimes it simply means you did what you believed you had to do to survive.

That is something to think about. 🤔

Lady Flava Wellness 🌻