We all want to feel rested. But in order to get there, there’s a thing you have to do first. Exactly, you gotta rest. Resting precedes being rested.
Duh, what a stupid blog post. But I didn’t really get that for a long time. I was one of those neurotic overachievers who never stops. Mind always running, writing my to-do list in the evening and hit the ground running in the morning. Well, let’s be honest, I’m still like that. But I had this silly epiphany a while back. And it’s this: Resting is not a pleasant activity.
Resting means sitting down and feeling the fatigue. It’s not enough to go to bed at night and sleep. In fact, you could end up sleeping 9+ hours and still not be rested. Trust me, I should know. I thought I could just work from dawn til dusk and sleep would be responsible for getting me rested. Nope. Sleep is necessary, yes, but it isn’t enough.
Somehow I expected resting to flip a switch immediately. Okay, I sat down for two seconds, now let’s go fold the laundry. I didn’t really expect the flip switch literally, of course, but somehow I expected myself to be the good little robot I was trained to be in school. Next task, next task, next task… Always keep going, no teacher ever gave you the assignment to sit down and rest. And so I lacked that skill. To sit down and rest. It always felt uncomfortable, to sit down and do nothing. Well, of course it does! I’m tired. That is uncomfortable. But it won’t go away while I remain active. I can push it aside for a while, but it won’t go until I sit down and acknowledge it without having to push it away.
When you are tired, your job is to rest. For how long? Well, until you feel rested. And until you feel rested, you’ll feel tired.