I thought resting would be easy
Turns out, rest is not sleeping, scrolling, or watching shows
When I first became interested in resting, I didn’t see it as anything more than something my body made me do when I was burned out, broken down, and unwell. Rest was a fail-safe, meant to keep me going (and going, and going).
So when I decided to take more of a proactive approach, I also believed that this essential, natural act would be, well, easy.
Resting was far from easy. I had to learn through fits and starts that rest isn’t just an activity you do occasionally when you’re exhausted. Rest, I eventually learned, is a practice, and practices require consistency, dedication, and a willingness to show up. Even when you’re too busy. Especially when you’re too busy.
My difficulty made sense, especially given that rest has become synonymous with sleeping, scrolling, and binge-watching shows (at least in our current culture).
We take personal days only to collapse in bed or take care of errands that we can’t find the time for otherwise.
We attempt minimalism…