Today’s theme touches upon the importance of taking time to rest and begins with this question: What’s one piece of advice you want your future self to carry into the next year?
One simple yet challenging answer is simply to rest. Turn everything off and be unreachable. Don’t wait until it’s convenient (that literally never happens) or until your body forces you to stop.
Slow down before you break down. You don’t have to hold it all together or do everything for everyone. You can just . . . be.
After two intense years of experiencing a global situation and the grief of losing loved ones, we’ve got to pause and catch our breath. Fill up what has been poured out. It’s time to rest.
If we are honest with ourselves, most of us are more comfortable running and doing, listening, or planning, checking things off a list, or supporting many people. Resting feels unnatural, and even when we slow down for a moment, “I could be doing XYZ right now” begins to run through our minds. It takes intentional effort to turn off the internal clock, to quiet the mental checklist, to ignore the “shoulds” and stop, breathe, and simply be.
Remember to slow down. Remember to rest. Rest and selfcare are so important. When you take time to replenish your spirit, it allows you to serve others from the overflow. You cannot serve from an empty vessel.
There will always be more to do, and certainly there are seasons in which we need to run hard. But rest isn’t a sign that you’re weak; it’s trusting that the tending of your soul matters more than the completing of a task. Rest isn’t a sign that you’ve given up. Rest is an active decision, an intentional choice to slow down and say that although it might feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders, you’re choosing to trust that it’s truly in the Almighty’s hands.
Something to do
There are many ways to rest. If you need some ideas, try one of these:
- Go to therapy. If you have the time and resources, therapy is an effective form of self care. ...
- Take a bath. ...
- Soak your feet. ...
- Try a sound bath. ...
- Go on a coffee date with a friend. ...
- Roll out your yoga mat. ...
- Try some stress-relieving body work. ...
- Curl up with a good book.
- Go for a massage. …
- Take a nap with your phone’s notifications turned off …
Something to Watch
When you are depleted and feel drained, your body is asking you to align to love and replenish your soul. Try this mindfulness meditation.
Replenish yourself with the light of love
Something to Read
Helpful Thinking During COVID 19