Learning To Be At Rest

I hear the word rest, and immediately, my mind goes to being unproductive. I don’t want anything to do with rest, if you ask me. It sounds lazy at times when you hear that you need to rest. What am I resting from?

I feel the same applies to many of us as women who were brought up in a culture that idolizes productivity. I must always be functioning at my optimal best.

When that happens, we see a lot more overworking, overproducing, and just outright overfunctioning. We have made this the gold standard for excellence in every way.

But I do know that behind all that overfunctioning and overachieving is a meltdown waiting to happen.

Want to know why you will crash and burn if you don’t see the need to prioritize rest? I’ll give you 5 reasons why rest is and should be the most welcomed form of self-care practice overall.

Have you been pushing back on rest in your life and confusing it with being lazy? Then this might be the wake-up call that you need. Please feel free to add to my list or ask your questions or concerns below. I would be happy to help you!

“If I don’t prioritize rest in my daily life, then I will not reap the benefits of a life lived in balance. There is a time to be productive and also a time to cease from production. Knowing this is key for longevity.”

Rest Is Healing

Rest is first and foremost a space to heal. When you have been going non-stop and not tending to your self-care on a daily basis, you will feel the aftermath.

Your body gets tired, weary, and just in a burnout state. It doesn’t matter what happens throughout the day; you won’t accomplish much on a highly functioning schedule.

Rest is important because it was created to be a part of our daily functioning. If you don’t prioritize rest, your body will eventually deteriorate, and you will shorten your life’s journey.

Rest, if you notice, takes a good chunk out of our day. The recommended time for rest for an adult is usually 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night to function best and maintain overall health.

That alone should tell you that rest is very important. That’s 7 to 9 hours that your body is asking for to be productive. If you think about it in other terms, you’ll realize that during times of sleep, the body is actually replenishing itself.

It goes through stages of healing, from cleaning up and restructuring the brain to cellular repair and growth, immune system support, cardiovascular rest, and hormone regulation.

Look at all the various things that happen when we rest. Can you see now why it’s far more important than you think?

Rest Is Divinely Required

The world may require you to be on a treadmill nonstop, trying to keep up with the demands of society. God, however, is different when it comes to rest.

He works the opposite of this theory. He needs us to prioritize rest. Not the busyness of life and society and its demands on our state of rest.

When we rest, especially in God, we are far more able to hear him speak to us clearly. If you ever keep doubting his presence in your life, this could be the reason why. You’re not resting long enough to hear his voice.

You will have to decrease so that he can increase his wisdom in your life. So if that’s you, always saying God doesn’t speak to you, or you can’t hear from God like another fellow sister in Christ, it’s because you’re rushing through life, being busy, and not prioritizing rest, especially with God.

If you change and rearrange that time of rest with him, you will see much more productivity and progression in your life.

Rest Is The Door To Breakthrough

You will probably laugh at this one. The reason why you may find this funny is that, as humans, whenever we need a breakthrough in any area of our lives, whether financially, relationally, or even spiritually, the key is rest.

Many rather think that we have to be doing more things for a breakthrough to come, which may not be the case. For most of us, we tend to think it requires serious periods of staying up all night praying, fasting, and countless hours of spiritual exercises.

In some minor cases, that may be the case for just a brief period of time, but for the most part, your spiritual life should be a more peaceful journey and not a hyped one.

You can have a balance of spiritual functioning without getting into religious rituals and practices that don’t serve their purpose well.

A simple, restful means of communicating with God daily in our everyday life is all that it takes. As we interact with him, he takes the heavy lifting from us, and we will see more breakthroughs as a result.

Rest Is Self-Care

Rest should be a part of daily self-care practices. The reason why mental health and wellbeing are at an all-time high is because of a lack of this simple practice.

We don’t, as humans, practice the required daily self-care needed to optimally function.

That self-care may look like brief periods of pause throughout the day where you are not doing anything but being still. The distractions around you are removed or, at a minimum. You’re just pausing for quiet rest. That can be from 5 minutes and upwards depending on your life, schedule, and responsibilities.

The problem with society today is that we have replaced the quiet times with cellphones and computers. Therefore, our brains are still wired for productivity.

Now you wonder why mental health is at an all-time high. We aren’t doing the best self-care practice of disconnecting from everything around us and being in a quiet space or zone.

If we knew the importance of that periodic rest on our health and well-being daily, we would have made it a priority.

Rest Is Needed For A Long Life

Most of us want to live to see our future grandchildren. I am one of them. I want my grandmother’s genes. She lived to be 96 and met one of her great-grandchildren.

I would love to have that similar experience in my life as well. That would be a joy! However, if I’m planning to reach this significant milestone of the 90s, then I have to start being a lot more strategic and intentional about rest.

Rest therefore means that I have to make time to get my 7 to 9 hours of sleep in a day that will replenish my body; I will prioritize time for rest with God, and I will practice self-care more often.

That’s the key to having a body that will be working for you and not against you in the long run.

I will also look at my food and exercise intake, which will be required as well. I will cover that topic in another blog post at another time.

I hope that these 5 tips will help you to really prioritize the need for rest in your life more often instead of being a participant in the burnout culture.

I wrote a book called A Balanced Life: Moving From a Dysfunctional Life to a Purposeful One. I do believe that we can create the lives that we want to live for ourselves in peace and balance.

We need to make it a priority to shift our lives from what’s not working or helping us be our best selves to something more balanced and meaningful. Get a copy on Amazon.

Also, for more finding balance and self-care-related blog posts, visit:

• When Life Challenges Your Faith
• Living Life In Freedom
• Being Intentional About Guarding Your Heart
• Learning To Let Go Of What Doesn’t Serve You
• Walking By Faith Each Day
• Finding Joy And Peace In Simplicity
• Finding Peace In Chaos
• Learning To Love Who You Are
• Living A Life Of Gratitude
• Balancing Motherhood and Purpose
• A Mom In Need Of A TIME-OUT
• Benefits Of Self-care As A Mom
• Overcoming The Hurdles And Struggles Of Motherhood
• Staying fit as a mom

In addition, for more information about my personal journey of re-discovery, get a copy of my book available on Amazon: I am Who God Says I Am: Always be inspired to live the life God has planned for you. It also highlights my personal journey of transition from a dysfunctional life to a purposeful one.

Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest to see how life can be lived in balance.

Did you find the strategies listed in this article helpful? What were some of your favorite tips? How have they worked for you? Leave a comment below; I’d love to know what you think.

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