Ep. 50 - The Key To Rest For Those Who Hate Slowing Down

You may have heard me talk about this before, but it’s not in my nature to not be doing something, to not be cleaning or organizing or planning or working, or even turning one of my self-care techniques, like running or reading, into a competitive goal I have to reach.

Does this sound familiar to you?

I'm going to be explaining the seven types of rest we need and the key to rest for people who just hate to slow down.

According to Dr. Dalton Smith, there are seven different types of rest we need to feel fully energized. 

Physical rest

When you're short on physical rest, you feel tired, your body may ache, or you have physical pain somewhere. And in order to get proper physical rest, we need to get high-quality sleep or do gentle activities like yoga, stretching, or massage. It's really thinking about how our body is feeling and being aware of what our body needs to rest.

Mental rest

Being mentally tired really manifests as opening up a new tab and forgetting why, or losing your train of thought, or walking to a room and not remembering why you needed to be in there. It may also make getting that good sleep harder because your mind is constantly racing all of the time, and mental race rest includes taking a break throughout the day or doing something calming like reading or listening to music instead.

Spiritual rest

If you feel like your life is lacking purpose, you may be spiritually tired. We have a fundamental need for belonging as a people, and so doing something for a greater purpose, such as volunteering, supporting, or being a greater part of your community, spending time or prayer or meditation, can really restore our spiritual center.

Emotional rest

When you’re short on emotional rest, you may feel like you have to suppress your feelings or please others. These are the classic kind of people pleasers that give so much of themselves. They don't put their emotional burden on anybody else. They don't really share how they're truly feeling, and so that leaves them feeling really weighed down by the emotional things that they're holding onto. So if that feels like you, then talking to a trusted friend or a therapist can really relieve and restore a lot of that weight and exhaustion that you may be feeling. 

Sensory rest

Sensory overload is so common in today's world of technology and simulation. This is especially true if you're a parent or you work in a high-touch workplace, such as nursing or a childcare center.

Someone who's experiencing a deficit and sensory rest may feel energized and happy at the beginning of the day but become increasingly more agitated and irritable as the day progresses. So the option here is really just disconnecting spending time outside or in a quiet space.

Sometimes these people are also really recharged even by their commute, like quiet time in a car. It's giving yourself a little bit of time away from any kind of sensory stimulation or overload. Taking a hot, quiet shower, for example, can be really helpful here. 

Social rest

If you are hanging out with people who suck the energy from you, you may be socially tired.

And restoring your social energy isn't about pausing any social interactions. It's about spending time with people who fill your cup. So if you work in a toxic environment or you work with colleagues who just really feel like they suck the life out of you, then making sure that you have friends or a partner or family who's supportive and positive and can create those meaningful connections for you can be really, really important.

Creative rest

Being deficient in creative rest can leave people feeling really uninspired. This is where you're just feeling really blah, and you don't have the spark or motivation you need to create something that you're excited about so you can restore and feel creatively rejuvenated by spending time outside, by bringing beauty into your home or office or trying a new creative hobby like paint by number or embroidery or knitting. Just getting and bringing in beauty into your life can be really helpful in restoring creative rest.

How do we actually implement these into our day so they can become part of our routines?

The key is to schedule it. I know that's not sexy. It's not all that revolutionary, but it really helps to start building the muscle of rest, especially if you hate to do it, or you feel guilty, or you think you don't have time to build this kind of self-care into your day.

It can be as simple as scheduling breaks into your workday or starting your day with a walk outside, paired with a call to a good friend, blocking out your evenings to watch a favorite show or to read a book so that you don't feel like you're supposed to be anywhere else.

Because most of us are pretty good at holding ourselves accountable to the times we've blocked out on our calendar. And so if you've blocked out on your calendar to take these moments of rest and to take these moments of self-care, then hold yourself accountable to those as well. You've scheduled it on your calendar, so you’ve got to do it.

And if you find yourself getting antsy or wanting to multitask, then check with yourself to see if it's really the type of rest you need. 

And so it's not that you're doing it wrong. If you want to multitask while you're watching tv, maybe that's not exactly what you need at the moment. Maybe that book isn't filling the creative void that it needs to, or maybe your walk outside just didn't hit the same vibe that it usually does, and you need to listen to an inspiring podcast instead or just sit in a quiet room. All of these things are options, being more aware and patient, and giving yourself the grace to figure out what you actually need in that moment.