Your View of Rest Matters: Slave or Free
I started diving into the why's and the how's of Rest, but realized I needed to define what Rest actually is. We can each have our own ideas about what REST is and how it feels, so, I went to the good ole' dictionary and looked it up- it said, it is the act of
"ceasing work or movement in order to relax, refresh oneself, or recover strength." Did you get that, it's the ACT of ceasing.
So it doesn't happen by accident, you must be intentional!
Those sound nice.
I don't have these in my life nearly enough...it's nobody else's fault by my own!
It's not like my husband and kids regularly tell me to sit back and relax, be refreshed, and recover....or when they do, they immediately need something and then realize they're not getting it because I'm resting. (such is life)
We all need rest, but there’s different types of rest, which is blowing my mind, but totally makes sense too!
It’s A Calling
Resting is something that we're called to do. In fact, it's literally required of us when the bible tells us to honor the Sabbath! This definitely goes against the hustle culture that we live in, so rest and the Sabbath can get a bad rap.
People can almost feel like taking a Sabbath is just "another thing to do".
When Jesus spoke very clearly that the Sabbath was created to meet the needs of the people, not the people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath. The Sabbath was created for us to learn to trust God to take care of us.
It was created because God's people didn't know what rest was. In their world, only the rich were allowed to rest. Since they were slaves the concept of rest was a new concept. All they knew was work and survive...but they didn't have to anymore.
They were FREE!
But they didn't act free.
They didn't know how to rest.
What if our inability to rest is actually a deeper problem of our inability to be FREE?
Rich people were free and rested.
Slaves weren’t free and couldn’t rest.
I don't know about you, but I don't want to be a slave, I want to be free!
I love being a Life Coach, mom, wife, podcaster, all the things, but I want to be free too. I want to know how to work hard AND rest. It doesn’t have to be either/or, it can be an AND.
So I leave you with this
Do you have a rest-averse, slave mindset that is rooted in scarcity, or a free, rest-accepted mindset that is rooted in abundance?
Types of Rest
We can feel like resting or taking a Sabbath is just another “thing” to do, when we’re operating from a scarcity mentality.
Three Types of Rest
Relaxing is becoming less tense, anxious, or rigid
Refreshing is giving new strength or energy. It reinvigorates, revises or updates your perspective,
Recovering is returning to a normal state of health, mind, and strength.
What if our inability to rest is actually a deeper problem of our inability to live FREE?
Ideas for how to Rest:
Relaxing
read a FUN book- not a self-help book
color
listen to gentle music
get a massage or facial
lay next to a fire
progressive muscle relaxing
Refreshing
listen to an upbeat and positive podcast
take a nap
sit down and eat a healthy meal on a real plate
listen to comedy
serve someone- be generous
Recovering
take a nap
talk to a coach or therapist
journal your thoughts
exercise
Meditation
Rest is not one activity—it’s the outcome of an activity! What type of rest do you crave right now? Are you wanting to relax? REfresh? or Recover?
The Three R’s of Rest
Oh man, now that I set up the importance of rest, I'm not just going to leave you hanging. I want to break down what rest is into simple concepts and edits you can make in your life. Because it's important. Remember, the Sabbath was created for us, because we need it! I don't care how strong you are, how little sleep you can get by on, or how talented you are at multi-tasking- we all need rest.
So, let's get to it!
Life Edits to Introduce Rest
Lets break it down-
Relaxing is becoming less tense, anxious, or rigid- almost like that feeling you get after a glass of wine, or a massage. This is not letting the small things bother you, allowing more fluidity in your day, and being open to other opportunities to bring you joy! Yah, sounds nice, but this is not my baseline temperament at all...thankfully I have a lot of friends that are relaxed and get to learn from them...you can also pretend to be a kid and just not give a darn...kids are sooo relaxed, let's learn from them!
Ideas:
read a FUN book- not a self-help book
color
listen to gentle music
get a massage or facial
lay next to a fire
progressive muscle relaxing
Refreshing is giving new strength or energy. It reinvigorates, revises or updates your perspective, so you can appreciate something more. Feeling refreshed is like waking up from a fantastic nap where you went through an entire sleep cycle, hear a new song that inspires you, and makes you feel equipped to take on the day. Maybe it's sitting down and drinking a hot cup of tea or coffee.
Ideas:
listen to an upbeat and positive podcast
take a nap
sit down and eat a healthy meal on a real plate
listen to comedy
serve someone- be generous
Recovering is returning to a normal state of health, mind, and strength. It's being well and regaining control of our physical and mental state. When I hear the word "recovering", I think of a recovering alcoholic who is overcoming a challenge and returning to wellness and a normal state of mind. I also think of training for my marathon and how I was very intentional about taking care of my body after long runs. We have a lot of stimulation in the world, so many things want our attention! Resting with the outcome of recovering means we must identify when we're outside of our normal state of health, mind, and strength and then choose to rest so we can recalibrate and get back to wellness.
Ideas:
take a nap
talk to a coach or therapist
journal your thoughts
exercise
meditation
So, bottomline, Rest is not one activity—it’s the outcome of an activity! What type of rest do you crave right now? Are you wanting to relax? Refresh? or Recover?
Thank you so much for listening! If this episode encouraged you and maybe even gave you the permission you needed to rest, I'd love if you'd share it with a friend who could also be encouraged by it! Remember, making small edits each day, creates big results, so you step into your fullest God-given potential! Make it an incredible day!