Rest…
Ah, rest… something we all need yet don’t always get enough of.
Finding time for rest has always been a theme for me. Yet now I find myself thinking about it more than I usually do.
I have what I would call a very “people-intensive” job. It’s enough to easily wear out a less extroverted person, and I oftentimes don’t want to talk to anyone else when I come home from work. We just crossed over what I would consider the peak of the season. It can be an intense time, but we all know it doesn’t last forever.
I know you all have your times too. Those times where you are maxed out and just don’t have any more energy to deal with life in general. This is your bodies call for rest…
We all have a need for physical rest as well as mental rest, and some would even say spiritual rest. There are many types of rest. And to keep ourselves from reaching that maxed out point we need to find ways to incorporate more rest into our lives.
Here are some ways we can do just that…
- Get our sleep – This is one of the most obvious yet seemingly hardest ones to do. They key is to establish a solid routine and don’t break from it. Speaking for myself, I get up early all week and then try to sleep in on the weekends. It just doesn’t work for me. I always end up getting up early anyhow cause my body is trained to do that. When it comes to sleep it is better to stick to a good routine.
- Try breathing exercises – These can benefit you by giving you a sense of calm and peace. They have also been proven to reduce stress hormones in the body. Just doing a minute or two of breathing exercises periodically throughout the day will drastically improve your ability to rest.
Limit your obligations – This is the one I have been trying to work on a lot lately. It can be hard to achieve a balance, but it does come down to priorities. And having what some people call “me time” is not a selfish thing to do, but a wise thing. You can’t do much good for others when you are worn down yourself. Think about what your obligations are in life, and eliminate the ones that don’t make sense. Don’t feel bad about it either. You only have so much time and energy. Concentrate it, instead of spreading it out! I guarantee you will both feel better and achieve more.
Make rest a priority – Rest won’t “happen” unless you make it a priority. I’m not sure why we have the need to fill our schedules to the max, yet we do. When you look at the big picture of things it just doesn’t make sense. I’m sure some of your best memories are times when you weren’t doing much of anything. Think about that for a second. Hmmmm, am I right? Schedule some time for rest in your already maxed out schedule and I am sure you will have a much better life for it.
What are some other ideas you have for getting more rest? I would love to hear them in the comments!
Cheers,
Jeremy
Being single and living alone, I found myself restless coz I have so much idle time in my hands after office. A month ago, I decided to have sidelines. Now, I am exhausted, I can’t even find the time to keep my apartment in order. To hold myself together, I make it a point to have a good breakfast everyday, take a 30 minute nap after lunch and save the Sundays for personal/family time.
Loved the post. I have spent (so far) 12+ years in a startup world leading business operations and slowing down to take a breath was rarely a (voluntary) option. I have done my share of “death marches”, burned millions of barrels of “midnight oil”… you get it, I have never seen a 40-hour week. Such are demands of the profession, when you are second in command and your company becomes like a family to you. But half way through my career, once I met my now wife, I started instituting “date days”. One day a week work was off-limits, unless building burned down or some other disaster. I noticed an immediate increase in how much work I could handle. I needed no further convincing, now one day per week is off-limits to any work. Now I also religiously visit the gym every day and I have noticed further improvement in my “bandwidth”. Maybe there is something to all that research that is out there we are ignoring.
In the entrepreneurial world, if we all just stopped with our oversize egos and focused on getting quality work done, rather than how much we worked, maybe than attorneys, accountants, and other “fixers” would have less work.
I always have a mental to-do list of what I need to accomplish in the eveing after I come home from work. I’ve learned that some days I just don’t have the energy to tackle a major task, or something delays the dinner hour (we’ve been having some repairs and remodeling done to our house), and there is not enough time to do what I had planned. I give myself permission to take the evening off and watch a couple of television shows that my husband had taped with my family. The laundry and other tasks will still be there tomorrow, but relaxing together is important, too.
You recommended breathing exercises, I would go further than that, and schedule a block of 30-60 minutes for a real work out. Not only will you receive the great health benefits, but I am sure it will make it alot easier to go to go sleep at the end of the day 😀 You will probably sleep better, and wake up better! Okay.. now I need to go and do that, hehe.
I agree, Komodo Dragon. I schedule workouts daily, usually right before a meal too, so I work up an appetite as well. And of course, the energy you lose doing it helps you fall asleep faster too so you get more sleep for the next day. 🙂
Till then,
Jean
Hi guys,
Getting the proper rest is so important. But many of us don’t get the rest that our mind and bodies need. Another thing you can do is take a 30 minute Power Nap during the course of the day. Now 30 minutes don’t seem like much. But it helps out a lot.
Kind regards,
Sam
X
Jean good point about exercise. That is a great way to help ensure you get better rest. When your body is physically exhausted, it is much easier to shut down completely.
Exactly Laptop. In fact, if I don’t exercise one day, I’ll have trouble falling asleep that night and wake up tired the next day. And thus the cycle gets disturbed.
Till then,
Jean
Exercise is crucial to your rest. I don’t always get a good exercise in, but I try my best!
Your are on point with the fact that most of us don’t get enough rest. I use breathing exercises mostly when I can’t sleep. I didn’t realize doing it periodically threw the day would help as well. Good insite.
Breathing exercises always calm me down and that is the most important thing on this list.
Some people don’t realize that well rested mind will actually make you more productive.
Avoid before-bed snacks, particularly grains and sugars. This will raise blood sugar and inhibit sleep. Later, when blood sugar drops too low (hypoglycemia), you might wake up and not be able to fall back asleep.
Hi,
Rested mind work will make productivity.Man need to get in that. and rest make man thinking smoothly
Niluka
Another thing is getting quality sleep. In my case if I keep on working right before going to bed; it takes me long time to fall a sleep and i constantly wake up during the night. It is better to stop working few hours before going to bed.
@Ev: Good point. I find that my mind needs a rest before being able to fall asleep. If not, my mind may still be focused on whatever I was working on.
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