Just a quick note from me this week. My husband and I flew out to Denver to check out Estes Park and the Rocky Mountain National Park. We hiked for a few days (saw Bear Lake, Emerald Lake, Lake Haiyaha, Lake of Glass, Sky Pond and more) and have enjoyed some much-needed rest.
While the altitude caught up with us (coming from sea level in Florida) we’ve had a beautiful time! A special thanks to everyone at home that made it possible.
It’s funny when we think of “rest” or a break… and what that looks like to many people can be very different. I think it’s crucial to realize we all need rest, it’s part of our humanity—but recognizing what kind of rest we need is helpful, too.
Here are 7 big categories that I hope can help you build in rest, both big and small:
1. Physical rest
2. Mental rest
3. Emotional rest
4. Sensory rest
5. Creative rest
6. Social rest
7. Spiritual rest
So, while 10-mile hikes weren’t exactly physical rest, the time in the mountains was certainly mental, emotional, and sensory rest—and much needed!
Right before I left for this trip, I was listening to the audiobook The Self-Driven Child by William Stixrud, Ph.D. and Ned Johnson. Chapter 6 brought up the idea of “radical downtime.” I love that term because of all the societal implications of downtime; I think it’s so important to recognize how essential downtime is. Similar to exercise, where much of the benefit comes with the body’s recovery during rest. Allowing our bodies and brains to rest is crucial to our recovery and growth.
Here are a few of my favorite quotes from that chapter:
“We need to radicalize our downtime. Not playing video games, watching tv, texting a friend… It means doing nothing purposeful, nothing that requires highly focused thought.”
“Radical downtime allows you to process a backlog of stimuli.”
“Think of the many activities, tasks, and interactions of daily life as snowflakes that fall on your brain in quick succession making big, unruly piles that seem impossible to navigate around. Radical downtime is the snowplow that comes through and evens them out, giving order to your life so you can ski on a smooth surface and avoid the gulfs and occasional avalanches that may result from snow piling up in uneven ways.”
I think this taps into the same idea from Happier Hour that I fell in love with. Cassie Holmes, Ph.D. studied the correlation between happiness and discretionary time. She defined that as: things people want “to do,” including nothing, relaxing, watching tv, leisure pursuits, sports, social activities. She found the sweet spot was between 2-5 hours a day. Too much and too little can deeply impact our happiness…
Now I know every working parent will scoff at this idea as impossible and almost cruel… but there’s a reason I use this as a highlight in my coaching course specifically designed for working moms. It truly does impact our happiness and our ability to maximally function in all areas of our lives. But whether it’s discretionary time or radical downtime, it’s essential to be purposeful and intentional about building it in.
Want to build more rest/ discretionary time into your life?
- Start small and build it into your calendar.
- Experiment and see if what you are doing is meeting your needs. If it’s not, switch it up.
- Be intentional about rest. Set aside time and start cluing into what you need in the moment and over time.
- If you are struggling to rest… come sign up for a free consult. Coaching can help untangle a lot of mental blocks around rest. Trust me, we all have a lot of heavy, loaded ingrained beliefs around rest! If you are struggling to drop that baggage on your own, let me help!
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