Hard to believe we are already into March! February felt like the longest month ever, but now that it’s done, it feels rather like a blur. Living in Ottawa has certainly not been boring with the occupation that I’m sure you’ve at least heard about.

I personally find that while February is the shortest month of the year, it tends to feel like the longest as I yearn for the promise of warmer spring days and glimpses of green as the snow melts.

Over the past several months I’ve been sharing quite a bit about the spectrum of challenging emotions and while this seems to have been quite helpful to many based on your feedback, what I want to do is shift gears a bit and highlight some of the pieces that lead to the less than desirable emotions.

In one of my recent coaching sessions, my client had a revelation that much of her self-perceived negative behaviours boiled down to one thing; a lack of pleasure and joy in her life.

Over the past couple of months, I’ve covered a pretty wide range of emotions, and they’ve primarily been the less than pleasant ones.

Now, it’s time for a rest.

That’s right, this week is all about rest and rejuvenation and why it’s important to build rest into our lives in an intentional way.

Maybe you’re saying “Yeah, Jess, but like, I sleep and that’s enough!”

In Canada this week, there is the observance of Orange Shirt Day; Every Child Matters, also known as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, on September 30th. It’s a day of remembrance for victims of the residential school system that was launched around 1894 until the last one closed in 1997. These schools were designed to colonize indigenous peoples.

Self-sacrifice is defined as the giving up of one's own interests or wishes in order to help others or advance a cause and self-denial is defined as a restraint or limitation of one's own desires or interests. To quote the great Spock, “The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few.” Studies have revealed that more women experience burnout than men with 68% of women reported suffering from burnout, compared to 58% of working men.

It’s the start of back to school and routine for many coming off of summer vacation, but the past 18 months have seen us experience life at a very different pace. Maybe summer was relaxing and a nice change of pace, but maybe it was just added stress from a seemingly endless lack of structure. Regardless of what your reality is as we shift into September, I think this week’s subject will be helpful.