Take a moment, before we get into this week’s discussion, and think about the last time you took a day of rest. This can include anything from a day at home catching up on your favorite TV shows or finishing a book to just getting in the car and going for a drive to a new town. If you’re like me, that was possibly too long ago to vividly remember. Or maybe even worse, you may have taken a rest day recently, but spent the whole time feeling so guilty because you “should” have been doing something, anything, else besides relaxing that you ended up wasting that time!
By a show of hands, how many of you have ever felt personally victimized by Instagram, Facebook or Forbes 30 under 30? (**Raises hand). It’s simultaneously a beautiful and literally deadly thing that we are constantly bombarded by this impeding sense that we need to be creating and “grinding”. Creating a business, curating a social media account to advertise, getting up early then staying late all in the ultimate pursuit of making something of ourselves. This really has a lot of benefits, as we live in a day and age that allows us to create a start-up or move our way up the ladder to the top with hard work while simultaneously creating so much internal stress.
I personally have this ideal of being “perfect”. I always need to be doing something in the vain effort to create the best version of me; now granted who that is and what she looks like is beyond me. It’s an allusive goal. In 2020 I set a lot of really big goals for myself: buy a house and a new car, learn French, create a cooking blog and start teaching yoga, all while training a puppy. Now, I succeed in all of these (except fully learning French, obviously) but do you know what else happened? I WAS FREAKING EXHAUSTED, for a good portion of the year. This is not to brag on myself, I’m proud of my accomplishments, yes, but as soon as the holidays hit, I suddenly hit a brick wall, face first. 6:00am mornings became 7:30-ish, even clicking on my Duolingo app sounded like a chore, and I kid you not a book I had been reading started collecting dust bunnies.
Now what does this have to do with your Health Marathon? It’s to serve as a “warning” more or less. Yes, it’s capable to accomplish a lot if you’re constantly on go mode but with what cost to your health? This was also the year I had worse digestion problems than ever before. Coincidence? I think not. (And trust me, the irony is not lost on me.) Downtime was not allowed; I forced myself to be learning French or reading something. To tie this back to last week’s topic of dopamine, I also was not rewarding myself along the way for the progress I was making and instead waiting for one big dopamine dump at the end of the year with all of my accomplishments checked off my list, and it created a HUGE let down after I came down from that high. Instead of being proud, I was disappointed and left feeling with this “what now?” feeling. Hindsight being 20/20, had I bothered to take a single day just once a week and chill the heck out, reflect on what I have done and made small goals for what I wanted to accomplish next, I probably wouldn’t have plateaued for two solid months.
Now that I’m done with that long story, what I want you to take away is how important it is to rest. Not just for your mental health, but for your physical health, your mood and over all well-being. So, let’s think back to that last day you took off. Did you just let your mind rest or was it running through a never-ending checklist of to-dos? This notion we need to be perfect and perpetually perfecting ourselves ad nauseum is not only unsustainable, but it’s unachievable. Shockingly, when we take the time to rest and allow our body and mind time to heal, we can actually give MORE to our goals and loved ones.
This week your homework is to find rest, whatever that looks like to you. Maybe you love the idea of cuddling up with a blanket and not leaving the couch all day. If you’re my sister, it’s sleeping for 12 hours uninterrupted. Maybe that sounds terrible to you and you need to go on a fun adventure and discover something new! Any option is a fantastic one, just make sure you do it! We all have different things that make us feel rejuvenated and ready to tackle the week’s madness and it is understatedly important to take that time. Whatever it is that gives you that peace, don’t find the time this week, make time to put your rest first and go do it!
It may sound scary, or implausible, to intentionally carve out a few hours to a whole day to yourself. But I promise you, that to-do list will still be there when you get back. And that same to-do list probably needs a good reminder that you control it, not the other way around. Another side note I’d like to mention, if there is something specifically that makes you feel incompetent and sparks that flurry of panic that you should be working on a project or painting the guest bedroom, then avoid it!! If I really want to feel rested, I cannot look at Instagram. Seeing videos of girls in the gym will literally send me spiraling, so I have to avoid it. Find what these triggers are for you and then pretend they are plagued and stay back!
If I can leave you with nothing else this week, remember this: you have started this Health Marathon to change your life and your health. Taking a rest day is just as important as incorporating more veggies and getting exercise. Six days a week you can go out there and seize the day, but that seventh day, leave your sweats on and enjoy every moment of your rest day!
No comments:
Post a Comment