Recently, I took a 30-day hiatus from Blogging to give my words a rest. That’s what I’m learning about and it’s spilling over into other areas of my life. I’m even reading books about rest because I’ve never been good at it, but want to be.
Rest doesn’t mean napping the day away, but I used to think rest resembled a midday nap. Just like in this previous post, rest for me is not filling all the flower beds this Spring because that choice will bite hard come August. I should be working right now, but my list of tasks are light, so I took the morning off to move mindfully through my day and that feels restful.
I used to clean my house on Sunday afternoons to get it done before the work week, but that stopped. I’ve decided to use Sunday for what it was created for instead. I spent Sunday catching up with friends, sitting in nature, reading through my stack of books and cooked one more delectable dinner. This notion of rest began last December, but I am putting it to practice this year.
In December I read through a years worth of morning pages and a couple of journals, but there was one common theme written throughout. It read, “I am tired, today.” I don’t want to read that anywhere this December.
I’m finding that rest doesn’t mean do nothing, but to be very still in every action and listen to the heart. Rest is a close cousin to peace and there’s no better feeling, besides love, than harnessing continual peace while learning to rest.
I’ll happily read this to you here:
Feature Photo by Derek Liang on Unsplash
Inbarbsworld 
Rest certainly feels like peace to me. X
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That’s awesome Liz! Thank you. xxx
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How many books on rest have you found? No matter the number, I bet the number of books on time management and making our active hours more productive far outnumber them. Ha, ha, it’s funny how we’re so horrible at resting and calming our bodies. I really can’t say much, I’m horrible at it myself. I’m an achiever and perfectionist by nature. I consider a rest day to be a day where I check off ten of my to do’s instead of 30. Ha, ha, anyway, you need to let us know what worked for you. Thanks for sharing.
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Hey Brian and thanks for asking. I think you could say this book found me! It was posted in an online community I help to manage by a member who wants to learn to rest. The name of the book is, “Rest is Resistance”, by Tricia Hersey, founder of The Nap Ministry. She refers to us overachievers as the, ‘Grind Culture’, which is a little painful to read!
I can relate to how you describe yourself, but I’ve slowly let a lot of that go. Perfectionism steals dreams in my opinion. We’ll never unabashedly chase after our dreams if we feel the need to be perfect. I’ve found that ‘Done is better than perfect’ and will be sharing more of what I learn, but so far it’s an extremely interesting path.
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There’s a book I read on this topic called When I Relax I Feel Guilty by Tim Hansel. Watershed book in my life. As a former workaholic, I agree w/ you. Rest isn’t just napping (although for me, it is a piece of it. Like Brian asked, I too would be curious as to any books you’ve read.
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Hi DM and the title of the book you read would snag my attention as well because I’ve always felt guilty over it, but I’m letting go of the guilt. I cannot wholeheartedly recommend the book I’m reading because I haven’t finished reading it, but the name is, “Rest is Resistance”, by Tricia Hersey. It’s a little too political for my tastes, but I’ve enjoyed reading the parts about rest and will be sharing more of what’s learned. Thanks for your comment and interest.
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I agree with Brian on this. I’m not good at resting. It’s a skill I need to try harder to cultivate. 🤍
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There’s an old saying, “I’ll rest when I’m dead.” I think it’s a dreadful saying, but unfortunately it holds a lot of truth. I don’t want to wait until then. 😊
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