Did you know that ⅓ of U.S. adults take DAILY naps? And that men are more fond of naps than women typically (Mayo Clinic, 2020)? There are several benefits to taking a nap. This can include using them as a way to relax, reduce fatigue (of course), improve mood, and increase alertness.

You see, I am a mom of three young kids. And in every single room, there seems to be evidence of this fact.. So in order to rest indoors, it would most likely have to be with my eyes closed, or at least with a book in my face, as otherwise I am viewing a kid-sized disaster from every corner of our home.

Or maybe we get so busy that we forget to include any time or space for curiosity, literally elbowing it out of our productive lives. Without evening noticing it, our eyes lose their sparkle and we walk right past things that would have intrigued us once upon a time.

I wish this weren’t the case, but until you’re an adult, there are things you may not have a say in that will always drain you. That was the case for me as a teenager with my parents visitation schedule after their divorce. Packing and switching homes every week was exhausting in a way that went bone deep.

Last year, my anxiety was through the roof, and I went to see a therapist. She was able to speak truth into my life based on just knowing about my enneagram number. During one of our first sessions, she brought up the idea of grace statements. We agreed that I would never talk to a friend the way I talk to myself regularly.

In the middle of a busy day, do you ever just stop? When you have a list a mile long, do you ever hit the pause button? When your brain feels overwhelmed and fatigued, do you just take a few minutes and turn it off? I’m not talking about the kind of scheduled time off or breaks we are most familiar with when we talk about rest.

“I don’t think I can do this,” I murmured out loud.
“What?” My husband asked. My voice went up a hormonal octave.
“How can I possibly be a good mother if I can’t even figure out how to pick the right bottle!?”

There’s a name for what I experienced in the store that day.

Fixing this broken world may be too tall a task, but we are required to navigate it. We have to figure out a way to not allow the turmoil and brokenness of this world to poison our hearts and minds. Because our hearts are out of balance, our minds become clouded, filled with uncertainty, self-doubt, and lies--basically, chaos ensues. 

Stopping and resting is not something she is accustomed to. Perhaps this is you. The minute you wake up, you start to feel the demands of the day, the to-do list looming, and the need to accomplish taking over your mind. Resting not only seems entirely impossible but unnatural. But I want to remind you of the same thing I remind my wife. Slowing down, relaxing, even just taking small moments throughout the day is critical. 

I realized, during that stretch, the creative power of unplugging from phones, computers and television for periods of time. It seems like it should be the opposite. Removing all the inspiring artists and material from under our noses should be like unplugging a lamp from a light socket—an immediate loss of energy, but unplugging for a time triggered creativity. Out of the screen silence came new thoughts. I wanted to write, cook, create, and dream. And I don’t think it was a fluke.

Take a second and think about your day. Do you hit the ground running in the morning? Push yourself to the limit? Taking care of the kids, checking email, after-school activities, doing homework, stress about deadlines, and your determination to accomplish everything you put on your to-do list. Without warning, sleep turns into nothing more than a short reprieve between tasks rather than the necessary restoration your body and mind need.

Sometimes not working becomes the actual work. Sometimes resting is not as easy as it once was. But does that mean we give up? Not even a little. It means we remove the stigma of stopping, and we retrain our brains to remember the sheer joy of doing nothing. I know what you're thinking: "That's a lot easier said than done." Maybe that's true, but what prevents us from simply enjoying and appreciating doing nothing is that we allow our tasks to captivate our attention more than rest. 

It was stunningly beautiful. A milky pale green color studded with gold drops and a single black line, this temporary resting place was like a living gem. For 8-15 days (depending on temperature), the caterpillar would wait, completely still inside, and in that waiting, it would be utterly transformed.   

There are times when my heart begins beating fast, my mind starts racing, and I break out in a nervous sweat. It may seem that the cause of these symptoms would be from doing something challenging, such as taking a test or perhaps giving an important presentation. However, more often than not, these effects take place in my body shortly after scrolling through news articles online. 

Even though practicing silence can feel frightening and unnerving at first, push past that feeling. Stay with it! There is a place on the other side of that fear where the waters of peace run deep. For you, maybe it’s in the morning shower before you’ve been sucked into the rhythm of the day. Or maybe it’s somewhere out in nature where you can sit alone and just feel the sun or the wind. Wherever it is, make a point to seek out silence sometime this week and befriend it.

Rituals are a fantastic way to help us mark time that we would otherwise brush quickly past. It makes sense. We all tend to get caught up in the flow of things, our to do lists, in responding to all the emails, texts, and messages. A ritual is like a sticky note for life. It says, “Remember this!” It could be the hot drink in the morning that helps ease you into the day or the firm but kind handshake you give when meeting someone for the first time professionally.

For several months, I was getting enough sleep. I was within the 7-9 hours recommended to adults, but I was still exhausted. I was up in the mornings, let’s say by 8am (college student) and finally in bed around 12am. Sounds ok right? Nope. Those 16 hours were filled to the brim with classes, my job, extra-curricular activities, homework, etc. My schedule was so crammed, I couldn’t think about anything else. Mentally, I was so tired.

I never considered myself creative or an artist. I always wanted to be but never felt I had those natural talents. My skillset was being organized and organizing others. This led to me working with creative types in management or supporting roles. By spending time with people I considered artists, I learned so much about their process and what it took for them to get their creative juices flowing. 

A couple of months ago I read an article specifically for introverts. For those of you who don’t know what it means to be introverted, it simply means our energy recharges from being alone, versus extroverts who get recharged from being around people. Being an introvert does not mean we are antisocial or that we don’t like going to parties, it will simply drain our energy eventually and we will be spent. Many times people plan parties on the weekend or want to get together on the weekends because work usually won't interfere and it's the way things have always been done. This article suggested that introverts reverse that. It suggested that we try to do all of our socialization on week nights so that we can take the entire weekend for ourselves and have a true day of rest. 

Being sick always comes at the most inconvenient times. It never seems to come on a rainy day when no one wants to be outside. Instead you always find yourself stuck indoors on the most beautiful days feeling terrible with only the desire to lay in bed or on the couch. For most of my life I would turn to watching movies when I was sick. You don’t really feel like doing anything else, so you just stare at a screen, not really enjoying the movie or even processing what is going on. It took me a number of years to realize that this type of behaviour wasn’t even restful for me while I was sick. It usually made my headache far worse and my sickness would just be drawn out. What your body really needs is a rest from your normal everyday habits.