As I have gotten older, I have come to realise that there are various types of rest every person needs. Society has created this mentality in alot of people that we must keep going, work 24/7 otherwise we aren’t deemed as ‘successful.’ When of course, this isn’t the case at all. I’m such an advocate for resting when its needed. Whether it’s physical rest or something else.
There have been so many times on my blogging journey when I have refused to rest. I mean, I used to post 7 days a week on my blog a few months ago, and it was so tough. Even though I loved what I was doing, I knew that something had to give. I knew I couldn’t continue to pump out content like I was. It would have been impossible to keep going without burning out. I made changes and it helped so much with not being mentally overloaded.
So many people think that rest only applies to physical rest, for example when you’re sleeping. But you can get rest and still be so tired in other aspects of life. In todays post, I wanted to share five types of rest that you need to have and why they are important. So lets get started
PHYSICAL REST
Physical rest is something we are taught from a young age. ‘Make sure you get 9 hours of sleep’ and ‘take time off if you need to.’ I’m so glad that were taught this as we grow up and enter the world of working. As I get older I realise how hard it is to make time for that physical rest. I have had so many occasions where my sleep pattern has been so out of tune and its really affected my day to day life. Nobody told me I’d ever have trouble sleeping as I got older.
Lack of sleep I’m sure has affected more than one of us. Heck, you might be going through that now. Physical rest allows our bodies to repair itself, and re-charge for the next day. Without it, we often find that we can’t function properly or we have really low energy levels.
When and where you can, make sure you get that physical rest in. It’s so important.
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MENTAL REST
It’s great that you take time to get physical rest, but are you allowing your mind to rest too. You can be relaxing physically but still have your mind running a marathon in your head. To combat this myself, I have introduced several rules when it comes to rest and bed time. No technology 1 hour before sleep. I also found that moving my phone away from me whilst I sleep has really helped too. We are constantly stimulating our minds and this can lead to overthinking and even mental health issues. I have seen it happen myself.
Mental rest is just as important as any other type of resting. As alot of time, mental and physical both interlink. If you’re tired mentally, it will probably make you tired physically too.
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EMOTIONAL REST
Emotional rest is a type of rest every person needs. Whether you’re going through a tough time or you just feel like you don’t have total control over your emotions. Taking time to acknowledge you need to step away and get the rest you deserve is important. It might be that it’s someone in your life that is causing the emotional unrest in your mind. Find ways to remove that person or deal with it better. Taking time out to complete self-care is such a great way to get your mind and emotions in check.
Take that break you have been saying you’ll take for the last 6 months. I know giving advice to rest, is really easier said than done. But if you don’t, you might find that you’re in a worse place. And it’s important that you get better.
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CREATIVE REST
I couldn’t write a post about rest and not include my fellow creatives. We know first hand how quickly burnout can happen when it comes to writing or creating. We don’t give ourselves enough time to relax and take it easy. It’s funny because in any other career or job, you’d allow yourself to take time off. But for some reason when it comes to creatives, we don’t listen. We think we have to be on 24/7 and that if we neglect our art then everything goes down the drain. It’s a constant worry, believe me I know.
With any type of job or hobby you should always give yourself the rest you need. I find when I am burnt out, my content becomes mundane and boring. And I feel as though I have lost my passion. There is nothing wrong with taking time off or changing up your busy schedule when it comes to creating. After all, we need our minds in the right place to post and create the content we love creating. Rest is pivotal in you becoming the best version of yourself.
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Which type of resting do you need to improve on? And which type of resting do you think is the most important?
I hope, now that you’re at the end of this post that you understand my message that rest is important for us. It’s important for us to be able to focus, and have enough energy to get through the day. And it’s also important for us so we can be the best versions of ourselves.
Olivia x
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I agree so much with everything you’ve written. Not taking care of ourselves and resting in all 4 areas you have covered can impact in everything. Personally, I’m fighting with sleep and am exoring ways to improve on that. It’s getting better – but still not managing a full night, but im getting there. Like all areas of rest, we need to explore what works and its not something we can change overnight. Especially if we’re changing habits.
Sleep is probably the hardest to get back into line once its out. I hope you get back to getting the rest you need!
Ironically I bought earplugs to try last night and actually had a worse night.
Oh goodness. I have tried sleepy balm from lush many times, and that works a treat for me.
Lush here I come 😍
Its amazing! They do it in a smaller tub too if you want to just try it out first
I agree with all of them ❤❤
I am kinda in need of emotional rest for so long
Me too! I need to take some time out for my emotional test.
Love this Olivia✨I always go away feeling more informed from your page😘 x
You and me both. This last year has probably had an impact on that!
Its creative rest me, often than not, I believe you have to be consistent with whatever art you get yourself into to better enhance your creativity. This stimulates my brain to read more and increase my knowledge about everything that there is to. In short, I need creative rest.
Consistency is great, but not when it comes at a cost of you being burnt out. Its all about balance!
You’re right💯
All of these kinds of rest are important. For me, mental rest is the most difficult to achieve. I just can’t seem to shut my brain off, despite doing all the “right things”.
I go through phases of this. It really takes time. And honestly, I don’t think any of us really completely shut our brains off. Unless were vertical on a nice beach somewhere!
I need all of them probably.
I think alot of us do.
Since the passing of my husband mental and physical rest play a big part of my day
I’m sure they are pivotal for you at the moment. You are in my thoughts and prayers daily Susie.
Thank you so much 🤗
💜 “Rest”, Refresh, Reset; three great mantras that Serve Me Well just like a Baby
…💛💚💙…
💜 Just like a Baby I Sleep when I Wanna, I Abloute when I Wanna, I Cry when I Wanna; watch Babies and Learn EveryOne
…💛💚💙…
Yes!
I like this and these are all great reminders 😊
Thanks alot!
I haven’t taken any creative rest in a while. It’s mostly because I’ve been going back through all my posts and adding to them and making them more SEO-friendly. It’s been a lot of work because initially, I just wrote without knowing much about SEO 😅. It is exhausting, though.
Oh girl, that is exhausting! I remember when I had to do it. I had to force myself to finish it!
It really does suck 😔
Interesting topic! It’s pretty hard sometimes to tell yourself that you need to take a break. I’ve realized that it’s also okay to rest after social interactions. Before I would tell friends that I can’t hang out because of whatever believable lie came to mind. Now I know it’s really important to be honest and say: “sorry guys I can’t come. I’m exhausted from all the social interactions, I need to be alone today”. If you have good friends, they’ll understand you need to rest sometimes.
Especially during this last year, I have found social interactions really take the energy out of me. I think being honest, and not having to always give an explanation is a good habit to get into.
I’m also a proponent of REST. Thanks for the reminder. The four types you mentioned are all important and interconnected. For me, though, the spiritual rest is most important. I believe that it is the anchor on which the others rest. The spiritual rest helps us to understand and accept that we are physical beings after all and need the higher to help and carry us through. “When we are weak, He is strong.” And when we take time to rest in Him, He provides the strength and answers. He refreshes and reenergizes us; suddenly we’re able to “run through troops and leap over walls.” 😍
I loved this. Thanks so much for that reminder. We often forget that we should rest in our creator too.
All that is true! ✨
Thanks for reading!
Wow you are so right about creative rest! Creatives tend to push themselves and end up feeling burnt out and less inspired than ever. It is so important to take time to recharge.
Need them all!
These are all rests that we need to have in life, especially physical and mental rest! I love your suggestions lovely x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
Even after my break a few months ago, I felt like I’ve needed another break recently. And instead of getting down on myself, I honor it. It’s been such an emotional and mentally exhausting year.
I totally agree with you over rest. We are conditioned to believe that working and only working is essential. Keep yourself occupied all the time or else one might lose the golden door of success. It’s too much to take at times. Rest has immense importance and the way you have explained it is perfect.
Needed to see this!
What a great post. I think when we think about rest, we usually focus on physical rest in the form of sleep and not the other aspects. Making time to rest our minds, take care of our emotional well being and rest our creative minds are important for our overall wellness as well. I can relate to not wanting to take a break from creating. Even though I took a blogging break this year, I was still working on other creative projects. I definitely need to work on that.
Thank you for sharing.
Need to improve on them all 😂. I think when we get older almost everything is important and “must be done”. Thanks for reminding me to take a break for it doesn’t kill