7 Kinds of Rest

Ok, so what kind of tired are you? Yup, there’s more than one kind of rest you need so strap in as we do a deep dive from the work of Saundra Dalton-Smith:

(1) Physical Rest

Physical rest has two components

(1) active, think getting adjusted, yoga, walking, good posture (you KNOW that’s coming one of these weeks right?)

(2) passive, think sleeping and napping. 

Low on physical rest, you might have body aches,  headaches, pain, swelling in your legs and feet, muscle spasms, trouble sleeping … the list goes on.

(2) Mental Rest

Oh boy, ever heard the term wired and tired?

If you’re low on mental rest when you try to go to sleep at night and your racing mind means you lay there awake. You may also notice you forget what it is you were just about to type here (joking) but if you feel more forgetful, struggle with concentration and feel like you can’t hold on to information you may need to prioritize mental rest asap.

(3) Social Rest

Other people. (I call it peopling.) They can drain our energy. Nothing wrong with your spouse, your kids, your coworkers, your friends—most of the time they’re great, even when they need things from you. All. The. Time. It’s when you think “can I please, pretty please, just get a minute to myself” it’s a sign that you might need some social rest.

And some relationships are more draining than others (gasp of shock): 

Are you always giving in relationships that exhaust you? (no bueno)

Do you spend time with people who don’t need anything from you? (more please)

(4) Spiritual Rest

No matter your beliefs we all need to feel a sense of belonging and that what we do here on earth has meaning, otherwise,  oh hello there burnout.

Important note: YOU have inherent value, nothing and I do mean nothing, can change that. This is referring to the feeling (or not) of connecting to your purpose.

(5) Sensory Rest

I feel this one, who’s with me? Even if you don’t realize it your Nervous System is always responding to your surroundings, fun stuff like phone notifications, the light from your tech, background music, the noise of other people etc..  

The most common signs of sensory overload are irritation, agitation, or full-blown anger, especially if you’re an end-of-day Grouchasaurus Rex. (credit to my BFF for this applicable term)

(6) Emotional Rest

How often do you feel you can be real and authentic in sharing your feelings vs being a people pleaser?

Many of us (ahem ladies) carry an emotional labour load acting like everything is A-OK, super awesome when we are withering inside. I use the phrase ‘your issues are in your tissues’ to refer to the feelings that we haven’t exposed, expressed and healed that show up on your Nervous System scans. 

(7) Creative Rest

Do you allow yourself time to appreciate beauty? Both natural (lakes, trees, sunsets)  or created (art, music, and dance), basically what we’re going for here is awe and wonder. 

You might need a dose of creative rest if you’re feeling stuck coming up with ideas and solutions. And feeling a bit blah.

Now usually, just by reading the descriptions, you can get an idea of where you might be needing to focus but if you want to go next level here’s a quiz you can take that will go into much greater detail.

And your homework for this week?

Choose ONE area of rest you want to improve. Very important: ONLY ONE.

Then make a stop-doing list. What?

This is the opposite of a to-do list.

You are going to remove things that aren’t working, things you want to stop doing. It sounds simple, and it is, but the effects are profound.

Incidentally, this is a great exercise to repeat regularly and something I do faithfully to help plug up any energy leaks…. This brings us around to why rest helps so much with your adjustments - take another peek at your Energy scan, any room for improvement there?

Thought so.