Rest and Recovery

Something I have been trying to do this year is really prioritize rest and relaxation without feeling guilt.  And I’ve managed to do that by treating rest and relaxation as a necessity not a want.

In order to do my most meaningful work, I need rest, I need to have time to relax, and I need to recover. 

Since I try to cycle sync, I try to naturally let myself rest in the latter half of my cycle since it aligns with my energy levels generally. So if you need a guilt-free way to rest, lean into your cycle. 

If that won’t work for you, I have more ideas on how to incorporate this into your life:

One rule of thumb is if you’re mentally tired, do something physical and vice-versa for the other way around. 

Rest and recovery do not necessarily mean no action, or even scrolling on your phone, they are intentional actions to help you feel recovered.

Recovery happens when there is positive stimulation and visible progress. So it’s good to have a handful of physical actions and mental actions to choose from so that you can choose based on mood and energy levels. 

Simply being outside is also extremely important to recovery. Scientists call the phenomena that humans experience in nature soft fascination. And there are multiple studies that show how good being out in nature is for your mental well-being.

Examples of Physical actions when mentally tired:

-Going to the gym

-Going on a walk (ideally outside, but you can also walk around your room)

-Jumping (or if you can’t do that, clapping)

-Weights (even a low weight dumbbell and a few reps can help get the oxygen moving)

Examples of Mentally focused actions when physically tired:

-Doing a puzzle or cross-word or word search 

-Writing in a journal

-Reading a book

-Coloring or other art

The goal is to switch up your brain and body to create separation from the every day worries and thoughts of life. For a lot of people their work can bleed into their personal lives and it’s important to keep that separation for your mental health. Doing an activity to counteract your current state helps create that separation and occupies your mind and body with something else.

Rest and Recovery go hand in hand but there is a difference between simply resting (which is also extremely important) and doing things that aid your recovery.

I watched a youtube video on someone covering this topic which I’ll link here in case you want to check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re5MZ9pwbC8&t=1s 

At the current moment I am pretty physically tired so writing this blog post was my mental recovery action. (Though now I would like to lay down and rest.) I hope this post gave you some more clarity on rest and recovery. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments, see you next month!