One of my family members recently had Covid-19. She had managed to avoid it through the whole pandemic, but the virus finally caught up with her. Many of her friends had already had it, and as someone fully vaccinated, in her twenties, fit and healthy, she expected a similar experience: mild, cold-like symptoms for perhaps a day or two. Instead, she ended up spending two weeks in bed, completely floored by fatigue and feeling a heavy weight on her chest.

What stuck me during this time was how difficult it was to get her to stay in bed. Every day she would get up and struggle to her desk, insisting that she must go back to work. I don’t know if the reason was partly her early career stage, and the fact that she had never taken any sick leave before so wasn’t used to the idea. Or if it was because she works from home: she certainly wouldn’t have had any ideas about travelling into an office in that state. Inevitably she would find herself unable to work, and end up giving up and crawling back into bed halfway through the morning. I couldn’t help thinking the whole thing would be easier for everyone involved if she had just stayed there.

The theme is a familiar one, as many of us struggle to take time to rest, or to do so without feeling guilty. It is so easy to think that resting is a waste of time, when in reality it is vital to living the rest of your life as best you can. I remember reading the autobiography of Chrissie Wellington, a world champion triathlete at the absolute top of her game. She wrote about learning that resting was part of her training – part of her job, even – as she couldn’t perform without it. The rest of us may not be putting our bodies through such brutal training as she was, but it would do us good to also think of resting as a crucial part of our lives.