The Importance of Rest

 "A holiday is an opportunity to journey within. It is also a chance to chill, to relax. It is when I switch on my rest mode."

~ Prabhas

Many people say things like "I'll sleep when I'm dead", or "There's no rest for the wicked". I've even joked with those thoughts and comments in the past...

Still, rest is absolutely essential, and rest is what this article is all about. Rest is valuable and impactful in three ways - physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Rest is not simply sleeping, although sleep is a form of rest. Sleep, good, sound sleep, is the form of rest that impacts us physically. Make sleep a part of your schedule. You would not miss an appointment at work, or at a service provider, so what makes it okay to skip sleep? Nothing. Sure, we rationalize it as something we can do without, and yet it is the one thing that is a foundation for so much more. When sleep is not prioritized, there is no rest for the body, and that leads to a lack of rest for the mind.

Rest for the mind, or the mental break can come when sleeping (although the subconscious mind is still working), and it can also come when meditating, or quietly sitting and letting thoughts be still. That stillness has great value in resting and recharging creativity and purpose, direction, and clarity. Being able to rest one's mental state is a way of allowing calm and even openness. That type of rest is also what can lead to emotional strength. When mental rest is not embraced, there is an emotional unevenness that may take over in a way that is not positive nor productive.

Rest for your emotions is a layering on top of the mental side of quietness, as resting emotions means you are not ignoring or medicating your emotions. When you have sleep, and you have mental breaks, you can rest your emotions by checking in on your emotions to understand, appreciate, celebrate and/or reconcile them. Should emotional rest and reflection not be allowed in a regular pattern, there may be things said or done that are regretted and/or regrettable.

So now you see, and hopefully feel, that rest is a necessary gift to give yourself each day in the ways that you can, and will, strengthen yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally through the approaches your take to tune into you as you tune out others and other's demands along with the distractions of life in order to get rest to be your best!