How much rest have you added to your days lately?
Yeah, I know, you have all kinds of stuff that you want to get done.
And I know you are busy and that you are under a lot of pressure.
Maybe you feel like you can’t catch your breath.
I know that *I* have been dealing with a lot of these kinds of feelings in the past few weeks.
No doubt, at this point in history, it is a combination of run-of-the-mill busy feelings and the stress and strangeness of the so-called ‘return to normal’ when things are definitely not normal at all.
We’re all trying to manage a lot of different tasks, a lot of different stresses, and a bunch of competing priorities. Some of that pressure comes from the social soup in which we live, some of it comes from other people, and some of it comes from internal pressure, thinking habits we picked up without even realizing it.
The combination of all of that can leave us scrambling from one task to another, trying to cram everything in, with a plan to rest when we’re done all of the tasks on our lists.
That is not a wise plan.
One problem with it is the fact our to-do lists are pretty much self-replicating. We can’t count on reaching a clear end point when the ‘right’ rest time will be obvious.
Another problem with that approach?
It leaves us feeling like we have to totally wring ourselves out before we rest.
So, I vote no on the whole ‘rest later’ thing.
Instead, I invite you to consider sprinkling rest in whenever you can.
And while we might feel that long rests are ideal, even short ones can be helpful and restorative.
Short rests that you can enjoy are much better than long ones you can never get around to taking.
Try to plan some rest time long before you are starting to feel fatigued. (It can actually be harder to rest once you are already worn down because the energy cost of switching from the task of working to the task of resting can feel like too much work.) It you have decided on rest time in advance it will be a lot easier to actually take it.
And, if you find yourself at a natural pause in your tasks, choose not to scramble to the next one. Instead, extend that pause for a few minutes.
I realize that there are lots of life situations where rest isn’t easy to come by, when things are incredibly hectic, when you are under a lot of pressure, when your time isn’t your own. I still hope that you can take advantage of any opportunity for rest that arises or that you can create – even if it is spending an extra minute in the car, in the shower, or standing still and breathing slowly while the kettle boils.
You deserve to feel good.
You deserve to have ease.
You deserve to rest.
And your breaks don’t depend on proving how hard you worked beforehand.
Here’s a gold star for your efforts to include more rest in your day: ⭐️
Go Team! Get some rest!
And here’s a purple starfish to inspire you to, as my Dad says, “Hove off like a tourist.”
Speaking of being a tourist, I took the photo above in the Interpretation Centre at Terra Nova National Park a few years back.
PS – No matter what you do about your rest situation, please don’t be hard on yourself for how challenging it is to fit rest into your day. Just do what you can and be kind to yourself about it, pretty please. 💚
