You are worthy of rest

The week between Christmas and New Year is a magical time of the year where days blend together, binge watching streaming sites nonstop is almost expected, making memories with family and friends is top priority, and indulging in the best guilt-free pleasures (who told you, you had to feel guilty about what brings you pleasure?) is the perfect cap to yet another unprecedented year.

Unfortunately, due to COVID and a unwelcomed snow storm here in Seattle, I have done very little of those typical end of the year things. Honestly, my plan was actually to work and plan for my budding content platforms. I have had this blog for over a decade though you can see how sporadic my posting is. I also have a podcast called ‘This is 40’ and I am in the process of launching a YouTube channel called ‘The Well Nourished Soul.’ With three different platforms to plan for, I thought this week would provide the perfect opportunity to plan, create, learn some necessary editing skills and set myself up for a great 2022 of content creation. As I said, that was the plan.

My body and life seem to have other ideas for how to spend this time. Listen, this year was hard. It was our first full year living with Covid. I worked remotely the entire year so I hadn’t seen most of my coworkers in person in a year. And despite the emotional toll of pandemic life, work never slowed down so my productivity reserves were completely depleted. When I looked back on 2021, I realized how little I had created just for me and for my platforms. This week was supposed to be my chance to rectify that wrong. But the harder I tried to execute my plan, the more circumstances outside my control crashed the party.

Rather than get frustrated, I decided to lean into it. I am more than the things I produce and my value is not measured in productivity. I took myself off a strict schedule for optimal productivity, and I decided to sleep until my body felt rested enough to wake up. I also took quite a few naps throughout the day. Let me say this – naps are wasted on kids! They don’t know how good they have it. I drank tons of water and finally feel like my body is fully hydrated. I pampered my skin with facials and massages. And, yes, I watched all the things on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBOMax and Disney+. The unexpected thing I got to add to my list was play.

Remember when I mentioned the unwelcomed snowstorm? Yeah, that happened. I kept looking outside my window watching the snow fall and cover everything around me. It was beautiful and magical and begging for an adult snow day, so I had one. I went outside and made a snowman – albeit miniature in stature. Full discloser, after about 45 mins the cold got the best of me and I had to come back inside. Luckily a cozy spot in front of the fireplace was waiting for me.

Sitting on the couch wrapped in a blanket and sipping on some spiked earl grey tea gave me the space I needed to embrace rest. I worked hard all year and what I needed more than anything was not to force myself to perform, but to give myself time to recover. In the process of resting, I discovered it was much easier for me to be creative, to dream and tap into my imagination.

With my remaining vacation, I plan to rest. That might look different from day to day or minute to minute. All I know is, my body and brain need it, my soul craves it, and I am worthy of it. And so are you!