On doing “the work of self-repair”

Recently, a dear friend (fellow professor) told me about “the work of repair”, in terms of repairing damaged relationships and eroding trust. When something doesn’t work and the relationship is damaged, there’s work of repair to do.

I reflected on this.

I thought of developing a related idea: “the work of self-repair” — the work we need to do to heal ourselves. The importance of treating our bodies and minds with dignity. I’ve posted on here about how overwork put me on the brink of actual death (loss of life) 4 times.

Sometimes I still overwork even if I advocate very seriously against it. Part of it is that I feel that I need to carry the weight of stuff that needs to get done. Part of it is that I lose (luckily, not frequently) track of the actual moment when I’m starting to burn out.

I am working on doing the work of self-repair. I met with and I’m being treated by a better otorhinolaryngologist, and a smarter dermatologist. I am paying more attention to my nutrition and getting dental care that I neglected because I am always so busy.

Recently I said, in a meeting, very publicly: “I’m on holidays from the end of July to the third week of August and no I won’t be checking email, text messages, Telegrams. I’m basically unavailable to anyone except my mother” – everyone understood and agreed, no questions asked.

This work of self-repair also involves sleeping more and I am awake way past my bed time, but I’ve also felt energetic throughout the day, which means I’m slowly but surely recovering from the horrible bronchitis I got last week.

Just thought I’d share. As a scholar of waste, and discards, repair work and the right to repair are theoretical concepts I understand and value, but thinking about self-repair is a new avenue for me.

I think we need to do more work of self-repair, and be kinder and gentler with ourselves.

That’s all I have.

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