On Working Hard & Resting Well
I want to be honest with you all today...resting is not my forte. I'm working on it and getting so, so much better with it! But for a lot of my life I've felt in a constant high and low of working hard and then burning out. Why was I burning out? I didn't know how to rest. Maybe you can relate with me.
I was thinking the other day just about the importance of working hard. Being a hard worker is such a wonderful character trait! We need hard workers and passionate people to make the world a better place for all of us! But just as important as being a hard worker is the need for knowing how to rest well.
But resting can be so hard for so many of us, no? This world we live in is on 24/7 and seems to demand that we be the same. But sustainability with living a joy-filled life is not the result of working like this. Rest, as counterintuitive as it may seem, is a necessity for hard work.When we're on all the time, waking up already exhausted, forcing ourselves to get a workout in but hardly enjoying it, scarfing down breakfast as we're walking down the door and doing all we can to not spill our oversized coffee cup as we drive to work, and then work a full day only to come home, plop on the couch, not even wanting to think about dinner but starving all the same, and then going to sleep just to do it all again in the morning...It's not sustainable, friends.
Hard work requires good rest. That's the bottom line. We have to learn to balance work and rest just as all things require balance to be good and healthy.Just for a little personal touch, every time I get sick with a virus or what not, I'm reminded of this fact again. I attribute it to God reminding me, "Victoria, you're rushing around a little too much and need to make time to rest." So this past weekend I had a little viral illness that everyone at my office had passed around. I felt miserable for about a day or so. But during that day, everything I did focused on that word...REST!
I didn't exercise more than a light walk to get out of the house. I really just laid around on the couch all afternoon on Saturday watching Poldark (I'm obsessed lately!) and eating popcorn and just focusing on my body getting what it needed to get better. It was amazing! And I credit this ability to tune into my own body's needs and the need for rest in particular to feeling better quickly.
So what if resting is really tough for you? If this isn't you and you have the whole deep breathing meditative state going all day long then keep on keeping on! But I'm that's not the majority. Here's a couple of suggestions that will help you learn to not only work hard, but rest well also...
EASE INTO YOUR DAY
I don't know about you, but waking up right before having to walk out of the house just isn't fun! I can't stand feeling rushed and if I do, say, sleep in too late and find myself scrambling to get to work I feel all discombobulated!
A better alternative is this...ease into your day. Don't wake up just before you have to leave! Give yourself time to wake up, spend some time praying or meditating and creating that calm mental space for the day. Maybe fit in some gentle movement to help wake the body. Also, cook/actually prepare breakfast! I know that sounds crazy, but taking time to actually prepare a meal, even if it's simply throwing toast into the toaster and slathering it with peanut or almond butter is so huge with keeping stress down and being able to "rest" before your work day begins. Take time to eat and enjoy your morning coffee or matcha! These simple changes to your morning helping you ease into your day will make all the difference with how the rest of your day proceeds.
GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO REST
It may sound like a given, but too often we don't rest because we haven't given ourselves permission to rest. Rest may feel like you're not trying hard enough, not doing enough, or being lazy. But girl, you need rest just as much as you need productivity...actually let's agree you probably need rest more! Start with this. Make a simple mindset change and simply say to yourself, "I deserve rest!" "I am no less if I take a break!".Just as giving yourself permission to eat all foods is so important for peace with food and a healthy relationship with food, permission to rest is necessary for doing all the other things you do in life to the best of your ability and feeling joy in them. Listen to your body and it's need for rest if that's what it's telling you.
HAVE EMERGENCY STRESS REDUCING MECHANISMS
When you're in the moment of feeling really stressed out, without a plan for how to decrease that stress it can be tough to actually implement things to get that stress down. So having an "emergency stress reducing method" or a couple methods is so helpful for those times you just feel crazy and uptight and don't know what to do. I recommend having a couple of different things that help you personally decrease stress. They can be things as simple as deep breathing for a minute or more or going outside in nature and walking while listening to relaxing music. I always ask my clients what stress reducing mechanisms they have for those crazy moments and more often than not they really don't have a go-to plan for when stress hits. But when we talk through things that they feel may bring stress down and going ahead and making a point to know those things that can help, when they're all stressed out it's much easier to actually implement those things and put them into action to feel more at peace.
Stress is inevitable. But long term stress can wreak havoc on your life and health. What are some things that you do now or could start to implement when you feel stressed out that will help you to rest?
SET ASIDE REGULAR, INTENTIONAL "YOU" TIME
Call it a date with yourself if you like! You need time for YOU, time to think and process how life's going for you, time to reset and recharge.If this is a foreign thing for you, start small. Start with setting aside a few hours each week, or a day a month, to do something that makes you feel full. For me, I love taking time to go on a run by myself not listening to anything except the nature around me and my feet on the ground. Or, going to my favorite coffee shop and reading for an hour or so. If you were to date yourself, what would you do? What would fill you up and bring you joy? Then schedule time to actually do that thing! I hope this helps and I hope you have a little bit of a better understanding and realization of how important rest is for you.I'd love to hear from you! How do you find rest and work balance?