The body is constantly talking to us and yet, we still have not learned to listen to it. Sometimes it is even worse for we do listen to it, but we choose to ignore it. Here is the story:

I told you already about a podcast I produce and host about Comic Art research. It is called Comments on the Top and it was supposed to have a single season, since it was part of a grant provided by an institution called IAMCR- International Association for Media and Communication Research.

Now, I had the brilliant (sarcasm alert) idea of doing a second season. Why not? , I thought. What could go wrong?, I insisted to myself, it will show your love for the group and its mentor, my dear friend and comic art research legend Prof. John A. Lent.

Of course, there was a whole plan in my head it it included producing the episodes in advance. I even invested some money in a “podcaster kit“, which reduced editing time a lot, so I really thought I had it all under control, except for a little detail: in the middle of all this planning, there was an element that I forgot to take into account: life.

The reason for the plot twist on my plans was actually quite a nice one. After the pandemic plus a terrible government in Brazil, 2023 brought finally good news for those involved in cultura productions: a series of funds to support culture opened their convocatories, whichmeans a lot of paper work to do. In practice, months of hard work that naturally caused my episode production plan to fall behind schedule.

Sure I could also mention en passant that some guests are slow to send the me their files and sometimes I lose valuable time writing reminders for the ‘deadline ignorers”, but none of these events change the fact that the blame for the delays in the release of the episodes lies solely with me. In the same way that the responsibility rests solely on me for not having known how to reestablish my schedule.

Instead, I tried another strategy: working to the point of exhaustion, including an epic workday last week, which ended four in the morning. I worked resless, despite neighborhood parties, no-stop-barking dogs etc.

Even so, the last episode was released two days late. A few hours after I uploaded the files to the streaming platforms I started to feel sick, with flu-like symptoms, mixed with a general malaise. In other words: burnout.

Fortunately, I am not talking here about a high degree of physical and mental exhaustion, which usually leads to the hospital and often leaves consequences, but rather a degree of exhaustion in which the body asks for a day or two off to recover, whether you like it or not.

At these moments, I always think about the signals my body sent before: tense shoulders, sore eyes, you know, the usual computer problems related to computer over expostion. Did I pay attention to them? No. Looking forlornly at my podcaster microphone covered by the plastic protector, I think that it will still take a few days for my voice to recover so that I can record a new episode.

Was it worth pushing the limits of my body so much? Certainly not. I find some confort though in the thought that there are already enough podcasts running and the world can probably wait a day or two for another episode.

I hope to have learned my lesson once and for all: as difficult as it may be, establishing limits is more than a personal choice. It is a universal right.

Be seeing you!

G.F.