Poverty Hangover Confession 312: Don’t Believe the (Negative) Hype

Your poverty hangover is wrecking you. Proof? It’s that little voice at the back of your consciousness that says you can’t stop to enjoy your accomplishments because the clients will wander away. The work will dry up. You’ll starve!

It’s the bully in the front of your brain that tells you to keep going one more hour, which turns into three, maybe four since there’s always another thing to do or another person to call. Nine hours later you’re standing over the sink, shoving down some cheese and crackers and counting it as a win in the ‘meals’ column.

Rewrite Your Internal Narrative

Remember that your bare-bones past is informing this. Grab three deep breaths. Survey your present, and recall that things are different now. You’re different now. And, as an Official Grown Folk™, you have a reasonable amount of say-so over this day and how it gets executed. Which means you can push yourself away from your desk and go eat something that requires a fork and knife.

Take a beat to feed yourself physically and spiritually at reasonable intervals. You’ll be better for it: More emotionally stable, more able to focus, more prepared to execute a work sprint when one inevitably comes knocking. Your tasks will be there when you sit back down and crack your knuckles.

You won’t be, though, if you don’t take care of your needs when they call. Yes, two days sans work-related anything is a need. Make sure you meet it.

(Have a Poverty Hangover Confession of your own? Share it with us and maybe we’ll feature it on the journal.)

Originally published at ragstobitch.es on April 26, 2018.