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Cultivating rest
People, who know me well, know that I frequently work with to-do lists that stretch for miles. I’ve lived and breathed the philosophy that time is money. I used to be one of those hyper-productive people with overloaded agendas, who could not sit for a moment idly. I was a true-blood hustler- always at it, whether I was tired or not. But then I observed that I felt exhausted all the time.
Someone once told me “Go home, the work will remain as it is.”
And it was the next day, the day after that, and two weeks after that. We exaggerate the urgency of what we set out to do.
Overproduction made me lose the taste of everything in life. When you feel drained and tired all the time, your energy reduces. This kills creativity, and you end up procrastinating, shunning away from the important work because you are too tired to think, which eventually leads to stagnation.
This lack of growth soon makes you feel that you are not good enough. In the long run, you stop doing the things you love because you just cannot bring yourself to do them.
Have you faced such a situation before? Or are you currently going through it now?
If your answer is yes, pause for a while, and reflect. You may need to take some time off to rest.
“If you get tired, learn to rest. Not to quit.”
Benefits of taking Rest
There are many benefits of scheduling breaks while you are working-
1- You are much more efficient when you come back to work after a good break.
2- You feel rested and rejuvenated at work, and develop better focus.
3- Stepping back helps you prioritize your tasks effectively so that you can make your time more productive.
4- Taking short breaks also give time for ideas to brew in your subconscious mind.
If you’ve noticed, the best ideas spark in our brains when we are not consciously thinking about them.
So if you find yourself stuck and unable to resolve something, the best thing you can do is take a break and go for a walk. You will observe that you are able to perceive things in an entirely different way when you’re back.
How to cultivate rest?
First and foremost, you need to schedule a time to do nothing. Yes, you read that correctly.
Avoid productive reading, webinars, skill-building, or anything like that. Try to schedule some time off to do nothing, and practice this regularly. It can be twice a week, every day, 15 minutes, or half an hour, according to what suits you best. Once you decide, schedule that.
Second, put your screens away. No phones, no laptops, no kindle. Meditate if you feel like, sing on the top of your voice, or dance like no one’s watching. Play a game of cards with your loved ones or a word vomit or doodle in your journal – whatever your heart wishes to do at that time.
In today’s world where there are no boundaries to work, even when working from home, learn to cultivate rest and let yourself be for now and then.
“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes….including yourself”
~ Anne Lamott