The Art of Resting

 The Art of Resting

I can hear my inner voice yelling at me right now: Rest?! What's that?! You, resting? Ha!

It's that Negative Nancy inside my head trying to make me feel less than adequate on talking about a topic I know quite a bit about. Working in health care, I absolutely must have a plan to rest every single day. On days I work 8 hours, which isn't frequent, I usually will come home and evaluate my emotions first. For instance, if I'm frustrated, I'm likely doing yard work. Pulling weeds makes me happy, not sure why but there is something to be said for using all your strength to pull things out of your garden. Presently, I am taking six weeks off of work to rest and rejuvenate. My mental health has been in the bottom of the barrel and on the last day I work, it landed me in my ER. Not exactly my idea of a good day.  

My idea of a good day is one where my brain isn't trying to sabotage my every waking move. Which, in the last two and a half months has been pretty much daily sabotage, courtesy of my brain. So I chose to start writing. Resting, I've learned, is about taking time to rejuvenate your soul. For me, that means cleaning the house, doing the yard work. I'm naturally a domesticated person, so cleaning and cooking for my family really makes me happy. I have days I take off from housework and yard work, but when I feel good it's usually what I focus on so that the days I don't feel good, I can use them to do literally nothing. Doesn't mean my brain isn't still trying to beat me up, but both options are a form of rest.

Think about this: If you are a mechanic, then fixing things  may not be rest because that's what you get paid to do. But if you have something that makes you happy and you feel a little rejuvenated after doing said activity, that can be rest. If you are too tired to do something, take a nap or a break and find something that brings you a little joy. However, me cleaning the house usually happens when my mental health isn't completely disabling me. As much as I want to pretend my Bipolar disorder isn't a disability, there are days where I can't leave my bed, or my house because the outside world is just too much for me to try and mask my emotions. Let alone have a conversation with someone outside my inner circle. 

What constitutes as resting? Let's talk about it!

•     Listening to your favorite podcast
•     Sitting outside on a picnic blanket at a park, or somewhere else peaceful, with a book (or if you're me, a stack of books...usually from the library because I'm always on a mission to learn something new and Barnes and Noble is expensive)
•     Nap time!
•     Listening to music that's calming or matches the emotion you're feeling at the moment. 
•     Having a snack (have you fed the gremlin that's inside you today?)
•     Drinking water
•     Doing something you enjoy (i.e. painting, sewing, reading, video games, talking to friends, etc)
•     Writing in a journal
•     Meditation
  

Anything on the above list, I would constitute as rest. It's important we integrate restful activities into our daily agendas. If we just constantly work and do chores we cannot be expected to rejuvenate.  Working in healthcare, I have a plethora of short term rest options when I'm at home and if I don't get my rest when I'm home, I don't do a good job when I'm at work. So rest up, and rest easy. Sometimes rest is about having a little fun and taking some downtime. 

Love, 

E