What I Talk About When I Talk About Resting
How does it feel in your body to rest?
This question recently sent me into a bit of a spiral when my mind went blank. Did I know what it feels like to rest? Or do I only understand rest as a concept that has been marketed to me in a specific way?
I’ve been thinking about rest a lot during this sabbatical. As someone who is a maximizer, I tend to fill my days up with hobbies, challenges, and passion projects. When asked if I’ve been bored during this time, I can honestly say no. There are so many things that I want to do every day. Even though I don’t have a 9 to 5 and have the luxury of time, I still find myself taking shallow breaths throughout my day. This is something I recently caught myself doing, which tells me that I’m frazzled and in a rush. And for what?
Why am I in a rush as I go about my day? There is no strict timeline to adhere to, so why am I not moving at a leisurely pace?
It has come to my attention that maybe I don’t know how to rest. To me, rest should feel like waking up in the morning with no alarm clock, lying in bed knowing you have the whole day ahead of you, and moving through the day with ease. Pausing every so often to look outside the window and admire the trees that spring has allowed to blossom. Having the space to daydream and allowing your mind to wander wherever it wants to go. This is something I want to embody in my life.
For a while, I thought rest meant lying on my couch as I scroll on TikTok, but that didn’t make me feel good. I also thought that a rest day should consist of “self-care activities”, such as going out to get a fun drink, getting a facial, or getting my nails done. We’ve been sold the idea that self-care = consumption in the form of bath bombs, iced matcha lattes, and spa packages.
Those are dopamine hits to make us feel good temporarily. Actual self-care should be acts of rest that allow us to ground ourselves, and that can look different depending on the day.
After looking through the types of rest we need, I identified that I needed sensory, creative, and spiritual rest the most. With all this free time, I’m overloading myself with too many screens and background noise. When I think about activities that feel grounding, puzzling, coloring, and clay making come to mind. So instead of doing things that require a screen, it could do me some good to work on something with my hands. This also ties in nicely with creative rest, where I can stimulate the right side of my brain.
Maybe you want to use things that you already have instead of buying a new puzzle set or art supplies. I’ve been seeing people junk journaling, which looks like so much fun and can be both sensory as well as creative rest. It’s also a great way to document and organize memories, thoughts, and ideas in a low-stakes medium.
In terms of spiritual rest, I find meditating helpful in easing my mind, staying present, and being intentional. It’s never easy, no matter how many times I try, but I always feel good at the end of it. I’m trying my best to meditate every day, even if it’s for a minute, to slow down my mind and stay present, but it’s still an ongoing journey. Hopefully, one day I can achieve 20 minutes of meditation.
As the days get warmer here in the city, going to the park has been spiritually healing as well. I genuinely believe that we as humans were meant to be as close to nature as possible. There are many studies on how being around nature can be healing, not just mentally, but physically too. I want to take advantage of the nice weather and the parks nearby, whether it’s taking a short walk or lying on a mat to read under the sun, I need to be outside more.
What’s important is checking in with myself and asking, “Do I feel calm and relaxed?” “Is this restful?” If it’s not, then I should move on to something else.
There’s no right or wrong way to rest. How I imagine it should feel is when you’ve had a nourishing meal, not too full, but extremely satisfied. It feels like a warm hug or taking your shoes off after a long day of walking around.
So let me ask you this, how does it feel in your body to rest?
