Preparation and recovery
Even if you just burn one end, you’ll run out of fuel eventually. (Image by S. Hermann & F. Richter)
Last week, I experienced one of the most important events of my entire year.
It was the annual Recognition Ceremony for The Little Middle School, where we share praise for each other, present awards, and reflect on how we’ve grown and changed.
The event was only seventy-five minutes long, but it required much preparation. Award recipients had to be chosen, certificates and programs printed, and gifts purchased.
Along with all of that, I had to figure out what I was going to say. And prepare the physical space. And prepare, emotionally, for the event.
It turns out that the emotional preparation — and recovery — is the most important and time-consuming aspect of the Recognition Ceremony. Even though I had everything ready to go on the day of the ceremony, I couldn’t afford distractions. I completely cleared my schedule of any other meetings and removed all unrelated tasks.
Fortunately, not everything in life is like this. I don’t need to set aside an entire day to write a blog post. It only takes me a few minutes to get ready for a meeting with a client. However, it’s worth considering what preparation and recovery time needs to be factored into our activities. Sometimes, we do need to clear the decks to make space for a particularly intense or difficult task. We do need to honor the behind-the-scenes work that our most challenging endeavors require.
I can’t articulate exactly why the Recognition Ceremony needed six hours of prep and six hours of recovery. It’s not rational. However, that’s what my intuition was telling me and asking for, and that’s what I gave myself. I’m glad I did. I believe that I, and the attendees of the ceremony, benefited from that focus.
When things don’t go well for me — when I feel stressed, frustrated, or overwhelmed — I can often trace the feeling to a lack of adequate preparation or recovery steps. For instance, preparing lunch in the morning is a particularly dreaded task, and if I don’t clean the kitchen the night before, I make the process even more dreadful.
And when I have trouble with my bedtime routine, it’s often because I was physically or socially active in the evening. I usually need an hour or two to wind down after a tennis match or a dinner out. Trying to force myself to be ready to sleep will not work.
When I plan my day, I try to consider what kind of preparation and recovery I will need for the things I’m doing. Sometimes, this means scheduling breaks.
And sometimes, it means building additional tasks into a project that take the extra of preparation and recovery into account. For instance, I can easily write a blog post once I have a topic, but coming up with a topic on the spot can take anywhere from two minutes to an hour. Therefore, I have a separate planning task in which I generate my topics for the following week. That means that when it’s time to write a blog post, I can start writing immediately instead of spending my writing time searching in desperation for something to write about.
And occasionally, a project comes along that feels so big that it has to become the sole focus. A friend of mine recently underwent a mastectomy after a long period of research, multiple mammograms and biopsies, consultation with medical professionals from around the country, and thoughtful reflection. Pre- and post-surgery, she completely freed herself from working or thinking about work. Even though the healing process has been a bit boring, she’s treating it like the full-time job that it is.
Many of us can be hesitant to take our time, to gather the information to make a decision, or to let ourselves have adequate rest. There’s a lot of social pressure, or childhood trauma, that sends us in direction of rushing, pushing, and frantic action.
As an antidote, I’m writing this. I’m reminding myself — and you — that we all deserve to have the necessary time and resources for preparation and recovery. In fact, it’s vital. When you have what you need, you can do your best work, stay healthy and centered, and be there for others who need you. It’s well worth it.
