Today, I woke up relaxed and ready to face the day. Oh blessed are the days off - you already know how much I like them but this piece is about how much we all need time of resting and even tough it may sound trivial, by the end of reading this you'll be convinced it's very important and essential to our well-being.
Thanks to a good night sleep which gave my body and mind a good rest I woke up with an open mind, good thoughts and joy in my heart. That's how I would like to start my day - you'll say and I'll reply yes, you can. , because to rest is a decision everyone of us has to make. After the time of rest my mind and body work differently, I am much happier and open to do the things I don't do usually, I am concentrated, I don't complain. Do you need any more reasons to set aside time to chill out? Here are they.
I was at my 2nd year of Uni and I wasn't an intern anymore but I was working part-time along studying. So almost everyday, after the classes I would go to the office of the magazine I worked for. My life was about the next interview, next article, doing a research, picking up that press release or a phone call from someone my article was related to. I was either on the phone or on the email and I was busy. How much I started appreciating weekends that time! But Christmas was a real revelation time. Few days before Christmas even media industry slows down (thanks God was working for a monthly magazine) and I finally got time to be with my family, to prepare dishes for Christmas Eve supper and to just get ready for this amazing time of the year. And then Christmas came, we sat together at the table with no calls to pick up, emails to reply or deadlines chasing you here and there. And on Christmas morning we slept as long as we could and we just enjoyed the time. I still remember how much I appreciated my time with the family and peace I had in my heart then.
Even more difficult time came after a few years. I was working as a freelance journalist, I had to make my living, because I wanted to be a grown-up girl and moved out on my own, I had to write my thesis in journalism and at the same time complete all assignments for the African studies. Pretty tough, huh?
I was working around the clock. Going sleep at 2am and waking up only few hours later to continue writing the articles or the thesis. I don't need to tell you how it affected both of them, my health and an ability to rest. I was exhausted. and then it came, like a gift from heaven, a preaching about the importance of rest and how much it is actually a Biblical thing. I understood I had to make time to rest and in my busy schedule I set aside one day - a Sunday. I was going to the church, spending time with family and friends and relaxing. What a change! I suddenly started enjoying the days of work and even though it was still busy I felt better. And still, within six days I was doing as much as I used to do in seven, because when you're tired your productivity declines dramatically.
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Today, I appreciate every hour and every day I can relax and when I feel I am overspending my energy, I find the time to rest and it's my DECISION to do it. I stop thinking of my daily engagements and stresses. I can look at problems and challenges of life in a different way and actually the moments of rest and relax are those when the best ideas come to my mind, when I appreciate myself and the way God works in my life, when I am nicer to others. I've learnt already that on the days that I am tired and stressed I should go back in my mind to those days of relax and remember about real me and the real world, because the world viewed through the glasses of tiredness is not the real one.
If you're thinking that you cannot rest, because the world needs you right now then what you need is... a proper time of rest. Why? Because many things can and will happen without you and the world doesn't need your tired self. Choose the time when you rest and the way you want to do it, because it's a personal thing. Don’t think that you’ll find fulfilment in your work or in business of life as I used to think. Your value is somewhere else - in much higher place. Resting is not only about the lack of an activity but about appreciation of things that are not temporary, the things which are not only here and now, the things that we don’t see and the things which are out of our control. Rest is good.
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