If you would have asked me in my 20s what I wanted to achieve, I would have pulled out a long list of things I wanted to do and become. I can assure you one of those things would not have been what I found myself doing on my day off work – which was lying on my bed reading and resting.
For many years I have been a woman of progression. I love progress and without it I feel life can be a bit boring. However, this new phase of my life has opened my eyes to just how crucial rest is for us and how ultimately it can propel us to even more success.
We are a society that thrives on being busy. Busy with work, with hustling, with striving for the next goal or promotion. Now, there is nothing wrong with any of these things – until there is.
As a young adult, I was very focused on achieving my goals. I wanted so badly to rise above where I had come from – a poor class family living in a community where many never even dreamed of leaving. When I entered college, I thought to myself I would never settle for that type of life.
And that was true and a good attitude to have. I never did settle, but I did learn the hard way that although you don’t have to settle, you do have to rest.
Rest and recovery are vital to our progression. After reaching a point of exhaustion, the next five years of my life were basically spent in recovery mode.
Ultimately, if I had allowed my body to catch up with my mind, I would have been able to meet my goals – one at a time. Rest is what allows our bodies to slow down enough to recover and then do what we need to do with more vitality.
I think many of us want to achieve our goals so bad that we don’t give ourselves enough time to rest and rejuvenate ourselves enough to meet those goals.
So here are some things I’ve learned and am still learning about rest:
Listen to your body
As fast-paced and achievement-driven as our society is, I think it is easy to fall into the trap that this should be our normal. But I think we should let our bodies tell us what normal is. If your body is telling you to slow down – listen to it. It may save you injury, time or an illness.
Take a break
Many of us work all day without breaks. But the truth is that breaks, even a short one, can help to revive your soul. It’s like pressing a reset button. All you need is a couple minutes of time out, if you will, and that may be enough to help you complete the rest of your shift or work for the day.
Relax
I am not the most relaxed person, but what I am learning is that the most normal way to live is to live in a relaxed, peaceful state. Anything aside from that is abnormal in my opinion. Many of us come from homes where we adopted anxious feelings because of circumstances – situations outside of our control. And even now, there are many financial worries and family concerns that cause us to be anxious. Our jobs can also be a source of stress. Although we cannot extract ourselves from many of our situations, we can learn to relax and find rest in our souls.
And in many cases, the rest we need for our souls is exactly the same rest we need for our bodies.
With hectic schedules and life’s demands, it’s easy to neglect rest. But if you are diligent in requiring yourself to rest, I am sure you will feel rejuvenated enough to meet your goals while also (and most importantly) avoiding burnout.