Restoring my soul.

Isn’t it interesting how the first four letters of “restore” is REST? Resting isn’t something that come naturally for this Gen X’er, first born, parentified daughter. I never feel quite right when I choose to take a time out and sit and watch or lay and nap during the daylight hours. The inner drive to always be doing, or if not doing at least planning the doing. This need to be doing has not served me well. I have PTSD and anxiety, I am a recovering agoraphobe, I had a period of time where I could not leave my house, thankfully I am now 90% functioning.

Rest is as important to our mental health as exercise or having a purpose. Resting allows our brains and bodies to reset and recoup energy. Just thinking uses energy, our brain uses a high percentage of energy just to keep us alive and safe. Therefore it makes sense that resting/napping gives our brain time to restore energy.

Whilst movement is also important to our brains and bodies, the first necessary thing that is important is taking a break. Studies have been done (and I won’t bore you with them, you can search on google scholar), that suggest that having a nap during the day of 30 minutes does increase our productivity by at least 30% in the afternoon. This is amazing, there are of course cultures across the World that embrace the siesta, or respite during the day, Spain and Greece come to the top of mind. Shops close, business closes and people take 2 or 3 hours to go home and rest and relax before re-opening late afternoon/early evening.

Our world, the Western World, is all about productivity, making money, running, doing, being busy. It is ingrained in our DNA’s, never stop because someone hungrier, more ambitious will swoop in and steal what you have built. I call this the natural order of things – the hunter and the prey mentality. What it does is keep us in a state of scarcity or fear, fear of losing what we worked so hard for. It is true we need jobs to pay for life’s essentials, however we also need balance.

If you are a parent, how many outside school activities are your kids in? How much time do you spend in the car driving around from activity to activity? How tired are your kids? Do they have behavioural issues that have no alphabet diagnosis? They are EXHAUSTED, what would happen if you cut it back to ONE sport or one ballet class per week? Nothing is the answer, nothing bad at least. You would have more time at home with them, more time to connect, more time to be in a peaceful communication with them.

Play what if with me for a minute, what if you restricted electronics as well? What if you allowed rest to be a big part of their life and yours? Imagine the type of home life you would have? Kids need at least 10 hours sleep a night to grow their bodies, don’t stunt their physical growth for the sake of your need to be busy 100% of the time.

Get off the fear bandwagon, you can have a peaceful life, a less stressful life, fill it with things you love and limit the things that don’t bring you peace. That is the path to true happiness.