PhotoCredit: GoodBoy
Winston is almost one. Still cute. Still a puppy. Just a mere 72 pounds of cute puppy. He’s in that awkward phase where he’s half big-boy and half-baby. He knows the rules but he doesn’t always feel he wants to follow them. When he wakes up from his naps he is just the most adorable cuddle-buddy on the planet. Full sweetness. When he needs a nap, not-so-much. Full monster. He doesn’t know he needs to rest, so he acts out. And then some.
I have a habit of going to bed at about 8.30PM and reading. I get off my screens, make a herbal tea, and do something I hope is sleep-inducing and soul-enhancing. Lately, I have been a little off my schedule and as a result we end up with a terror of a rampaging honey-badger. I hadn’t realized that my wind-down was his wind-down. He is a little barometer of whether I am doing the right things. His teeth around my wrist tend to indicate that I am not.
We don’t all have such a clear indicator of when we need rest. Rest, not in the conventional sense but rest as a reset and a recharge. Taking him for walks each day has become my thinking time. Largely because if I am talking or listening to a podcast he notices my distraction and puppy-mayhem ensues. I have now come to enjoy his little reminders that I need to shift gears.
This ideas.ted article talks about needing seven types of rest. I appreciate the dimension the article gives to the notion of rest. We tend to bucket rest under the sleep umbrella and we are doing ourselves a disservice. Rest is time off screens, time outdoors, time reflecting, time in quiet, time in solitude, time in relationship. Rest is an investment in our performance. It is not a cop-out. It's a power-up.
One of my favorite forms of rest is active rest. The ideas.ted article does a good job of pointing to this. If I am doing the dishes, I focus on my breath and make it a restful activity. My rest-enhancing pro tip is to look out the window - or at least into the edge of your room - to rest your eyes (and therefore brain) on calls. I have noticed many people in smaller rooms on video calls and I know they are in that space for prolonged periods of time. If that is you, put something in the far corner of your room and practice looking at that periodically. A plant is awesome, a small water feature would be amazing and a mood board would also be brilliant.
Finally, rest is personal. Take the ideas.ted article and make it yours. Think about how you can incorporate moments in your day that bring you energy. Rest is so much more than putting your feet up. Rest is so much more than sleep. Rest doesn’t slow you down, it makes you go faster in the right direction. Rest is fuel for the fire of your squiggly ambitions. It will give you perspective and it will make you smarter, happier and clearer about how to win.