Rest is Necessary for Right Action
In today's blog, I want to invite you to challenge the narratives of busyness and prioritize rest and pleasure for the health of your own ecosystem, yes, but also because it is the only way to sustainably and joyfully do what is yours to do in the world.
Busyness is a sinister actor.
The shady narrative that exalts exhaustion, distraction, multi-tasking, and never-ending to-do lists infuses even the noblest of causes -- maybe even more so. I mean, who has time to rest when the world is on fire? However, if we are really interested in putting out the fire and addressing the underlying capitalist assumptions of endless productivity and growth that keep us running (or running to fight the fires that are fanned), we have to slow the fuck down and become deliberate with our presence and energy.
You can't fight fire with fire.
Let me tell you something I know in my very bones - if you are empathic if you care if you are someone who is on fire to change the world right now, your nervous system is sensitive. Your most important act of resistance is to prioritize your own restoration and consciously determine how to make your OWN ecosystem sustainable and generative.
What I'm not talking about is paltry half-measures like pedicures and dinners out with too much wine. I'm not talking about offering yourself meager crumbs of care out of guilt.
I'm talking about refusing to buy into the nonsense of being busy and available all the time.
I'm talking about prioritizing 7 - 8 hours of sleep each night, which will change your life by improving your mental health and your physical well-being by leaps and bounds.
I'm talking about really, honestly listening to your body and giving it what you need (not indulging in what will help you stay numb in the face of the insanity of the world).
I'm talking about play, pleasure, and connection in ways that fill you up and helps you see the beauty in the world around you.
Rest is not a "nice to have".
Prioritizing rest and tending your needs is an act of claiming your power. I am proposing that actually slowing down and listening to your own wisdom, connecting with people you love, taking care of yourself, finding pleasure in your life, and caring for yourself like you mean it is essential to doing hard things now and being able to continue to do the hard things that create the world you wish to live in.
Rest is an essential part of doing the work that is yours to do.
Rest is absolutely necessary to nurture right action - and it is something that the glorification of busy and endless growth wants to minimize and dismiss because presence, pleasure, and being rested makes you less compliant. Say no to the culture of busyness. Choose to nourish well-being, sustainability, and thriving.
Take your power back, sister - prioritize rest and let it nourish inspired action that moves you, and the world you wish to create, in the right direction.
Tell me everything - what is your relationship to restoration? What would be a revolution in caring for yourself that you just know would nourish the work you are here to do?
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