I don’t know about you, but I could really use a vacation. For the last posting of this school year, we are talking about rest. It feels weird to think back to the beginning of the pandemic and remember how much forced downtime there was. For many people, it was a necessary pause that allowed them to re-examine the pace at which they had been running their lives. While most people got to a point where they were stir crazy, the time at home taught many people an important lesson about rest.
When you look at rest as sleeping, you can see that our bodies use sleeping as a time to repair. Every night while you sleep there are important processes occurring in your body that are vital to the healthy continuation of your life. While sleeping is the automatic first definition we think of with rest, it is not the one that I would like to focus on now.
In your lifetime and in your career, you will always have times of the year that are extremely busy. Right now at school we are making up for this lost time last semester by cramming in as much as possible to these few final weeks. It’s hard on the teachers, and it’s also hard on the students. I can tell that our very involved high schoolers are reaching the end of their energy supply. But we are all able to push through, because we know that in 11 days it will be summer vacation!
In previous careers, I did not have a summer vacation, but there would be busier times of the year, and times when there wasn’t as much going on. It’s important to have that slower period to look forward to. It gives you an end goal to work towards and a promise that things will get easier. If you find yourself in a career that doesn’t have slower periods you are likely experiencing what is known as burnout. While so many people got to slow down during the pandemic, healthcare worker’s jobs got even harder. In that situation they did not have that end goal in sight because no one knew when things would get better. That is an incredibly tough position to be in. While some people can thrive in that type of environment for periods of time, it is not a good long-term solution, and it is hard on your body and mind.
When you find yourself in those periods of rest, really try to take that time to rejuvenate yourself. For highly motivated people it is easy to say, “work is slower now, so let’s fix all of the problems around the house.” Being stressed about your home life instead of your work life is not real rest. You might not have a long time to rest, but when you do have that time, listen to what your body needs. Give yourself 20 more minutes lying in bed in the morning or sit in your backyard for an hour at night. Maybe rest for you is watching a show, if so, let yourself go on to that next episode when you would normally turn off the television. Whatever it is that makes you feel rejuvenated, make sure that you allow yourself to do that. Giving yourself moments to rest will allow you to recharge and feel more prepared when you do return to the fast-paced world in which we all live.
I hope you are able to get some rest this summer. Even if you are working straight through, I hope you are able to go to the lake on a weekend or enjoy a cup of coffee and a sunrise. It has been a really hard year for mental health, and we all need rest now more than ever. I wish you a peaceful and enjoyable summer. We will see you in August!
- Bria