Your body feels like lead. Maybe you’re grieving. Maybe depression has wrapped itself around you like a heavy coat. Maybe you’re in a painful transition and every day feels like walking through quicksand.
This is schlep territory – and I’ve learned to respect it.
In my practice, I’ve sat with countless people who apologize for “just existing.” But here’s what I’ve discovered, both professionally and personally: sometimes schlepping is the work. When a client who’s stuck like this tells me they managed to brush their teeth, I genuinely celebrate. Because I understand the effort it took to get from bed to bathroom.
We make a beracha on meeting basic bodily needs – Borei nefashos rabbos v’chesronan, blessing Hashem for all our needs themselves. Even our chesronos, our lacks, are there lehachsyos bahem nefesh kol chai, to enliven us. That desperate need for the bathroom that gets you vertical? That’s not failure – that’s divine design working through your most human moments. Once you’re there, you might as well take that shower.
Psychology calls it behavioral activation, but I think of it as sacred momentum. Socks lead to standing. Standing leads to the kitchen. Kitchen leads to sunlight streaming through a window you forgot existed. Your body is wiser than your mood – it keeps you moving even when your spirit feels stuck.
I’ve learned to honor my own schlep seasons with self-compassion, when showing up is the highest form of courage I can muster. Sometimes healing happens not in breakthrough moments, but in the space between “I can’t” and “somehow I did.”
The schlep itself is holy work.
