Let yourself Rest

Create mental space and time to let yourself rest and do nothing.

How often do you truly rest?

Not just sleeping at night, or taking a day off exercise, but true genuine rest.

It’s a question I’m asking myself too because as simple as it sounds, it’s actually hard and uncomfortable to allow ourselves to rest, take a break, and relax. It’s a practice I want to bring into the new year and work on too.

In our modern culture, we’re used to always doing *something* or finding something to do. I’m guilty of it as well - I’ll put on a podcast or music to avoid the silence at times, find a new house project, or make a list of various work or house projects to do in the future. Of course, there is scrolling on social media too. I’ve set boundaries with looking at Instagram for myself. I do learn things on there and love seeing what friends are up to, but too much time is never ever useful.

Our culture has lost the practice of doing nothing or finding truly restful activities.

In past generations, it was forced on us. There wasn’t internet, wifi, electricity for us to stay up googling things at 11 pm. There was darkness - or candlelight - for people to spend time with each other or go to bed.

Today, we can spend our days scrolling, making digital to-do lists, or attempt to be productive all hours of the day. Yet, it’s keeping our nervous systems in a sympathetic, stressed-out state, or eventually leading us to a state of burn-out or collapse.

Rest looks like putting your phone away or on airplane mode. Taking a break outside to sit or take a slow walk with your dog. It could look like cooking with friends or family, or having a game night with friends.

It could mean going to bed at 8 pm in the winter when you first notice you’re tired - it’s okay to hibernate in the cold, dark winter! Winter is meant to be a slower time of the year to rest, get cozy with wool socks and hot tea, and curl up with a book. Rest could mean choosing a fun, easy book to read rather than a non-fiction to learn something.

Rest may mean letting yourself sleep in the morning instead of getting up early to go to the gym. Or waking up and sitting outside with your morning coffee.

Rest can be taking a break from exercise, or allowing it to be fun activities you want to do if your body and mind is ready and up for it. I love winter activities that get me outside - snowshoeing, snowboarding, sledding - we just need snow in New England to start!

Rest may mean ordering delivery and choosing what sounds really good to you instead of cooking, then watching something on Netflix under a cozy blanket. Or putting everything for a warm soup or stew in a crockpot.

It could mean engaging in a hobby - or something you’ve wanted to pick up for years. Often, this requires you to prioritize that over other things. You could let yourself take a break from some chores and sit on the couch to knit, paint, or play an instrument.

Our minds certainly need a rest or a break too. We spend our days hyperconnected, checking email or social media, or engaging in the mental load of work, parenting, and life.

Rest can be lying on the floor or your bed and breathing, stretching, or ‘doing nothing.’ We need space to physically rest and mentally rest to find a parasympathetic nervous system space of “rest and repair.”

Rest for Recovery

Wherever you are in your life or recovery, I’m sure you’ve had so many things to do - appointments, meal planning and cooking, and more - while also trying to continue with your real-life work, relationships, home tasks, and more. To create a sustainable recovery, rest needs to be prioritized too, even if other things get put on the backburner for now.

While everything above sounds nice, it’s also uncomfortable to sit back and rest. In the first few moments, you may have thoughts of everything you “have to” or “should” do with your day. It may be hard to put down your phone or climb into bed early. Treat it like a practice, and know it will get easier with time. You can re-learn how to find restful moments in your day and prioritize them to find spaciousness, balance, and restorative time in your life.

As you create a new relationship with food, your body, and yourself, you may choose to let go of somethings altogether like calorie counting, searching for the new and best food, diet, or wellness plan, or overexercise. Use that new mental space and time for rest.

For me, this year, rest means:

• Putting my phone down or on airplane mode to limit useless scrolling - and to be present with my family, dogs, friends, or myself.

• Reading fun, interesting books.

• Spending lots of time outside playing.

• Sleep, always.

• Playing piano again. I took lessons all through childhood and have a piano again, so I’d love to play again. Everytime I try now, my son joins me and kicks me off while saying “I do this,” so we’ll see when I can fit in this.

What do you want rest to look like for you this year?

How can you prioritize it?