I've been battling with something lately and I've found that many of my clients are as well. Usually, if something appears in my life and my client's lives then its probably happening in other people's lives as well.

It's the idea of rest.

When you think of rest what does it mean to you?

A lot of times when I ask clients this they respond by talking about getting plenty of sleep at night. What they don't often think about is the idea of slowing down, doing nothing, having no commitments, etc.

Society places great importance on being busy. Just take a look at current advertising. We see people who are accomplishing all the things, while raising a family, cooking gourmet meals, and pretty much anything else you can think of. They are the epitome of work/life balance, right?

We all know this isn't a realistic picture of life. Yet, we find ourselves striving and comparing ourselves to this unrealistic, picture perfect vision of who we think we are supposed to be.

In all this doing, where is the resting? The time to just be?

Over the last 10 years I have been trying to simplify my life. Even when I feel like I am doing a good job of simplifying, something happens that helps me see where I could improve. The pandemic was a great example. I thought I had really scaled things back. But when we suddenly didn't go anywhere anymore I realized how much time I was spending in my car running around. It was shocking!

I have recently simplified my life again. The interesting thing that has been coming up for me is the feeling of not being busy, of actually having time to rest. My reaction to having the space and time to rest has been a little shocking. I find myself craving busyness.

Why is it so hard to rest?

As May Sarton says so well, "I always forget how important the empty days are, how important it may be sometimes not to expect to produce anything, even a few lines in a journal. A day when one has not pushed oneself to the limit seems a damaged, damaging day, a sinful day. Not so! The most valuable thing one can do for the psyche, occasionally, is to let it rest, wander, live in the changing light of a room."

Rest is a hard concept for most of us. We feel guilty or sinful as May says. But where is all this busyness getting us? Most people admit to being stressed out, overwhelmed, and exhausted and would like to have more time in their days.

It's time to embrace the idea of slowing down, of being truly present for all we do and not distracted with what we think we should be doing.

For me that looks like taking one full day off every week from all of my work. No writing, planning, corresponding, or doing anything work related. It feels good to give my brain a break and let myself play and enjoy the day with my family or friends.

What about you? Are you finding ways to rest during your weeks or do you notice that you are constantly busy? Maybe that is just where your life is right now, but if you could find one small way to incorporate rest into your day, what would that look like? I would love to hear about it; let me know in the comments how you are going to incorporate rest into your day.