Rest and receive
I recently got back from my first real holiday in 4 years. and it was great. But here is what I want to share with you: I gave myself permission to rest.
Surrending to rest was actually quite hard at times. My mind kept telling me that ‘you need to do more’: go diving, book a day trip, party at a beach club, go shopping BUT I resisted ... And it was just what I needed to get my sparkle back!
The lifestyle shift
The last 3-4 years have given many of you the opportunity to explore lifestyle changes that you thought would give you more joy, freedom, autonomy and energy e.g. working from home, more time with your family and having greater flexibility. However, for many of you stress increased. And increased again as you moved to the hybrid working week. One thing is certain these new lifestyle changes haven’t help to grow your overall wellbeing in the way you thought they would. In reality, the pressures on your precious time and resources have increased e.g.:
No third space to switch off between work and personal life
Less control and consistency in your working week
More complexity and responsibility balancing work with your full life
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg!
The busy state we are in
There is an overwhelming pressure to be perpetually ‘ON’ and doing something.. If you’re not working, you’re hanging out with friends and family, working out, studying, shopping, staying informed, going to the latest bar or restaurant, juggling passion projects, managing family schedules …
This pull to be ‘ON’ all the time is making you stressed and tired. Yet FOMO and the pressure to conform stop you from taking control back and listening to what your body needs,
The precious commodity of time
How often have you thought to yourself ‘ I have no time or I am too busy’ to do something which is important to you? Yet, in reality you have spare pockets of time but what little unclaimed time you have is often being filled by interacting with your devices or spending time on activties and commitments that don’t energise you or fill you up.
Time is the one thing you have, It is precious and it is finite but yet you give what you have away freely to activties that don’t give back to you!
Less doing, more being
When and why did we get so committed to filling up every minute of our days? When I look back, I feel certain that life used to be less full but in a good way.
Over time, your life, and mine, has been filled with more and more distraction. One theory for this is that because we no longer have to fend for ourselves i.e. find and make shelter, hunt, gather, raise, grow and make our own food, that we have filled our life with other activities to fill the void. As much as we all seek comfort, the human brain needs complexity, challenge and struggle to be content and happy. In the absence of real satisfaction and contentment, you turn to distraction and this is the turning point for filling your day with stuff in an attempt to feel full in life.
5 approaches to restore the balance
So how can you restore the balance so you feel more rested and energised? The starting point is stop looking to external or material distractions to fill your cup e.g.
More good company, less energy vampires
More real experiences, less living through others
More focus on others, less focus on self
More focus on feeling good, less focus on appearences
More rest, less activity
10 easy ways to rest and re-energise everyday
Whilst a holiday is a great time to re-energise, you don’t need to wait for a getaway to bring more rest and recharge into your everyday life. You can start by creating new daily habits e.g:
Spend 5-15 minutes with yourself doing something you love
Watch sunrise / sunset / take a daily walk in nature
Be creative e.g. make art, food, music, write
Mediate daily for 5 minutes or more
Practice breathing and relaxation exercises
Practice yoga
Take a long, relaxing bath or shower
Schedule a daily power nap
Read a book or listen to a podcast / music
Sit in silence for 5 minutes or more
Your mind will always resist the quiet but we need it. We need stillness, time to just be. To escape the pressure of constantly achieving and doing.