Stillness or Movement? How to Listen to What Your Body Actually Needs
We’re told to rest. To slow down. To stop pushing.
But what if stillness doesn’t bring relief, but instead makes you feel even more stuck?
For many women recovering from Long COVID, the fatigue isn’t just physical. It’s the echo of a nervous system that’s been holding the line for too long. The chemistry of survival never got the message that the danger has passed.
When that happens, stillness can deepen the freeze. Your mind says rest, but your cells are whispering move.
Why the Mind Gets It Wrong
After illness or trauma, your body learns to equate stillness with safety, even when it’s no longer true. You may crave stillness because motion once triggered symptoms or fear. Over time, that association hardens:
“Don’t take up space. Don’t make waves. Stay small until it’s safe again.”
But safety doesn’t always mean stillness. Sometimes it means expression. The gentle motion, breath, emotion, warmth, sound. The body needs a way to complete the cycle that stress interrupted.
And for more on why you end up with that cascade of symptoms that don’t make sense, check out Why Long COVID feels so random.
How to Tell the Difference
Try this small experiment:
Find stillness. Sit or lie down. Notice your breath. Does it feel peaceful, or like you’re disappearing?
Add a whisper of movement. Rock slightly, sway your spine, or hum softly. Does something inside you start to thaw?
Your body knows the truth before your mind does.
Stillness that soothes is calm.
Stillness that drains is collapse.
Relearning Your Rhythm
Healing begins when you stop guessing and start listening. Movement doesn’t have to mean pushing harder. It can mean allowing energy to circulate again, and sending your body the message:
“It’s safe now. You can move again.”
That’s the moment your body’s intelligence comes back online; when recovery stops being a puzzle and starts being a partnership.
If resting isn’t working and you still feel like your body’s fighting against you, it’s not failure. It’s protection.
The free Post-Viral Reset Guide shows you three gentle ways to help your body shift out of survival and back into repair — so your healing can finally take hold. Download the free Reset Guide
You’ll learn how to recognize which type of calm your body actually needs, and how to get there in a way that actually fits you.