When did you last rest? I mean completely rest.
Not going to Pilates, taking a pottery class, or walking in the park.
Just lying down and letting the weight of your body sink into the bed. Or simply sitting in a comfy chair, gazing out the window with no agenda.
If you’re anything like me, I can bet it’s been a while.
Hi, I’m Holly, a career/life coach and mindfulness facilitator. Here at Zestful Zen, I share tips on self-care, creativity and personal growth, to help you live mindfully with zest, zen, and purpose. Subscribe to join our supportive community and our Gentle Gatherings. Come inside and cosy up by the fire. You’re so welcome here. ☕️💕
Doing, doing, doing
As an eternally curious person, excited to explore and try new things, I often fall into the trap of filling my free time with activities.
There’s nothing wrong with doing fun stuff – my gym classes bring me joy and health benefits; my wanderings and learning adventures bring awe and intellectual stimulation.
And in recent years, my balance has shifted towards more restful activities that help me slow down and be more present – yoga and Pilates rather than HIIT, woodland walks, meditation, reading, colouring in…all good, relaxing things.
But these activities still aren’t 100% rest.
What is rest, really?
To be honest, until last year, the notion of ‘pure rest’ wasn’t really on my horizon. The idea of doing nothing was alien to me, and I considered my slower activities to be rest.
My wakeup call came during my mindfulness teacher training.
A key component of the Breathworks Mindfulness for Health course – designed for chronic health conditions and pain management – is keeping a pacing diary.
This involves recording activities and rest periods for a whole week and tallying associated pain/fatigue.
By analysing the records, participants can identify correlations between specific activities or rest periods and the degree of symptoms they experience.
Over several weeks, they can then go one step further, experimenting with length of activities/rest, to figure out suitable baselines that don’t lead to problems (e.g. maximum 10 minutes swimming; a 5-minute break for every 30 minutes of desk work, etc.)
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Walking the talk
As an aspiring mindfulness teacher, I had to complete this exercise myself, and boy was the experience enlightening.
Since I don’t have a chronic health condition, I measured my perceived stress levels and muscle tension, and I faithfully recorded all activities in detail.
The results reinforced what I already knew (that certain aspects of my then-job caused me significant stress – hello hundreds of daily emails!) and made clear the physical impact of this stress in terms of associated muscle tension.
Then my real lightbulb moment came when I had to tally up my rest periods.
I hadn’t realised that ‘pure rest’ was necessary (or desirable), conflating slower activities with rest (and feeling slightly smug that I’d fitted these activities into my busy work week).
But upon reading the guidance and discovering the meaning of ‘pure rest’, rather than restful activities, my grand total for the week was…zero minutes.
A bit of a shocker for someone who took pride in being mindful and living with self-compassion.
Resistance to rest
I’ll admit that I initially felt a lot of resistance to this approach to rest, and reasoned with myself that it didn’t apply to me, as someone without a chronic health condition.
But as the weeks passed and I experimented with setting baselines (especially taking mini-breaks in-between work tasks, rather than slogging for hours), I noticed a big difference in my stress levels, muscle tension, patience and positivity.
I was converted to the power of proper pauses for pure rest.
An evolving rest practice
That’s not to say I’ve got things perfect. I still fall off the wagon, especially when my routine is disrupted.
Now that I’m self-employed, it’s often tempting to push forward when I’m excited and passionate about a project.
So, I must be intentional about taking breaks and embracing real rest periods, recognising when I need to pause.
I’ve not been great at resting during my current mini-sabbatical travelling South America (case in point: writing this post during a brief spell of downtime!)
Between all the sightseeing and travelling (plus trying to sustain my fledgling business as a temporary digital nomad), there’s been little space for slowing down.
But I’m chilling more in my final fortnight (I’m heading off to the Salar de Uyuni salt flats for a few days offline). And I’ve already scheduled in some pure rest days after my return to London – work can wait!
Like all aspects of mindfulness, rest is a practice, that ebbs and flows. But building it into my routine helps it become an integral part of my life.
With my foundations in place, rest becomes a sustaining practice that I can return to, again and again, in good and bad times.
Have I convinced you to embed a regular practice into your routine?
Why not give it go? Start small, a few days at a time, observing the difference resting makes to your physical and mental health.
What have you got to lose….?
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Self-reflection and journal prompts ✍️
When did you last really rest?
What stops you resting?
How could you build 10 minutes of rest into your daily routine?
What activities trigger stress or symptoms for you? Can you build in breaks?
What would a truly restful day look and feel like to you?
Share your perspective ✨
I’d love to hear your reflections on rest, resistance and pacing yourself. How do you know when you need a rest? Do you feel like you have to earn rest?
If you enjoyed this post, please comment, like or share with others. Thanks for your support! ✨
As one that suffers from Myasthenia Gravis, rest is very important because you become overwhelmed with fatigue. Really need to be disciplined to allow this to happen. Some days stress doesn't allow it to happen!