Hey Team,
Have you included rest in your plans (or your planning plans) for your life-enhancing activities this year?
Yeah, yeah, I know that you will rest in there somewhere but I’m not talking about rest that arises from time to time.** The rest I am referring to is a deliberate choice, something you include in your plans because you recognize (or try to recognize!) that resting is a vital part of any process of growth or change.
I mean, our bodies and brains need rest no matter what.
We aren’t robots or machines (and even robots and machines have downtime and time for maintenance) and just like anything and everything in the natural world, rest is necessary for us to function.
And no amount of optimizing, scheduling, time management, biohacking, or whatever is going to change our need for rest.***
So, rather than trying to function without rest or rather than waiting until the need for rest overwhelms us, wouldn’t it make more sense to include rest in our plans?
Wouldn’t it be a good idea to pay attention to our own rhythms and routines whenever we can and add rest when it would serve us best?
If we wait until we ‘get a chance’ to rest, it is likely that our rest time will get filled with other tasks and projects.
BUT if we make rest part of the plan, part of our practice, then it feels like a more natural part of our schedule and it is more likely to actually happen.
And, for the record, anything you do to refresh and recharge and give yourself a break counts as a rest, up to and including a full body flop out on your bed to let your mind wander or to take a nap.
So, Team, today I invite you to consider your practices in terms of a cycle or a rhythm and see at what point in that process it would make sense to include more rest.
Since rest is vital for growth and for change, it definitely counts as part of your practice and you get to decide what that looks like for you.
And here, as always is your gold star for your efforts today. Whether today is a rest day, a small practice day, or an all-out exuberance of effort, it all counts!
*I will be writing other Go Team posts throughout the year but not on a regular schedule.
**Nor am I talking about the kind of rest that our bodies or brains seem to suddenly demand ‘out of nowhere’ – you know, the kind that usually means we didn’t hear the earlier requests for one reason or another. It’s ridiculous how hard it has become to hear and acknowledge those earlier nudges, isn’t it?
***In fact, the effort to do all those things would actually wear me out and I would need even more rest.
