Hello friends and welcome to my fifty-eighth blog.

It’s the end of another busy week. This got me reflecting. I seem to have become that person who every time I get asked how I am , after saying great or fine, I tell  everyone that I am just so busy, so very busy.   This  has  become so  damn boring

I mean , so sorry , but, actually, who really cares? My close friends are interested, and I know that they care about me, but  it  really seems to be, that my running around treating elderly folk all over, dealing with relatives, travelling a great deal and doing all my own admin, is how I have come to believe that I demonstrate my value. Here I go again. It seems that my the perception is that the busier and more stressed I appear to be, the more important I am. It is as by being busy,  I am wearing a badge of honour.

It’s actually a load of baloney!!!

Sadly, it is not just me.  As a society we seem to have collectively decided that to feel worthy our lives should be bursting at the seams. Pondering  on this for a wee while  and if we really and truly think about it, this being busy is also a decision we make. it is not usually forced on us. Ultimately, most of us do everything we want to, not because we find the time, but because we make the time. If we say we are too busy to do something, it is really us saying that it is not important enough or we do not want to do it.

So, quite recently, I had a mini meltdown.   For a couple of weeks I had been burning the candle at both ends, and I ended up exhausted, overwhelmed and feeling rather bleak.  Fortunately, I identified that things were going pear and sought to rectify the situation with speed before too much damage was done. Fortunately, I seem to surround myself by the most incredibly caring people and hopefully all’s well that ends well.

The reason for my telling you this, is the fact that this was a wakeup call for me to calm the farm and to slow down. I learnt a big lesson and have realised that being so busy at work, trying to socialize up a storm and then trying to do admin and home stuff was not serving me in any size, shape or form. I was not resting sufficiently, and it was not good. In fact, this whole busyness thing was also not making me feel good about myself. It was making me feel quite vulnerable and I was worried about maintaining my health and wellness.

So, it was again time to read and learn and get a grip on this busyness thing.

I think that for the most part, my busy life is aligned with my why. I am loving my new physio business and definitely seem to be managing it and the admin a bit better now. My website and blogs are pretty much under control and the nutrition side is cool. However, we do need to tone down the socializing somewhat. It is just that I am so loving the interactions again.

What I have underestimated, on researching a little further, is the incredible importance of rest. I believe I need to up my game in this department.

 

Now. if we look at the Oxford English dictionary, one of the definitions of rest, is to cease work or movement in order to relax, sleep or recover strength.

Sadly, rest has a bad rap in our culture. And here, once more, I am guilty as charged Most of us think about rest as merely the absence of work, and not something valuable. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Rest is an essential component of working smart. Even in our brain’s resting state, when we are not directly focused on a task, it is still active, engaging in what is called its default network to plug away at problems, examine and toss out answers and look for new info.

There are actually so many benefits of resting and repairing. These would include:

• Our production rates and performance are improved.
• We may reduce the risk of disease and illness.
• Our stress and anxiety may lessen.
• We have improved clarity, focus and concentration.
• We are happier and have a greater sense of peace.
• We have increased levels of inner ease and harmony.

 

Rest is different for each of us.  We can gently rest or actively rest. We can rest for 5 minutes or as long as an hour or 7. For me it is all about time and its management. This is something that has become really important to me and I do believe that it is one of my strengths.

Let us explore this further.

I love the work of Dr Rangan Chattree, a general practitioner in the UK who approaches health and wellness in a thorough and alternative totally holistic way. One of his principles is that you just need 5 minutes of your time, 3 times  a day (so 15 minutes on total) to kick start your health and wellness. I can totally relate to  this principle, so I decided to break up the rest activity into time slots and length of time required for each rest activity.

 

Gentle rest.

Time needed five minutes.

1. Meditation

Having experimented a bit, I have concluded that my best meditation at the moment is breathing exercises, and this is working for me and I can achieve this in five minutes. Perhaps I will try the progressive muscular contraction method sometime. Our parasympathetic nervous system gets activated so we can rest, digest and repair. Using the breathing function on an apple watch is a good way of easily doing this.

2. Silence

This I am trying to do on my patio, usually with my dogs. I will look at my garden, my girls and just be. Five minutes is a bit of a stretch, but it is a work in progress. I usually have a beverage with me, tea, coffee, or bubbles and it really does help to calm my mind.

3. Mindfulness

Personally, I feel mindfulness has been a bit overused and it does not excite me as much as it did before. I have done a mindfulness course and, in essence, it is a great concept. I just feel that it is a very individual thing. What I need to try to do is to be more consistent with it. To eat slowly (have not been doing this) and to be in the moment (I sometimes manage this)!

 

Active Rest and Recovery

So, these activities of rest may be done in five minutes but if you have longer then that is fabulous.

1. Journalling

My blogs are this for me. At any time, I have at least half a dozen blogs in the making and this is rest for me, often, although there are some quite frustrating and stressful times too, like early on a Friday morning, making final changes to the blogs. I always watch Wild Earth, the TV channel broadcasting live and interactive experiences from the bush whilst writing my blogs. It is so restful for me. This busyness has been created by me, so no one else is to blame. An ongoing area of development.

2. Colouring in

So many folks enjoy this and I think it is amazing. It’s not quite as popular anymore, but there is huge merit in doing this. I have bought a couple of books over time but never really done much.  Five minutes is an easy one for this. One could even place the colouring in book and pencils next to the kettle and do some whilst waiting for it to boil or whilst enjoying the first cuppa of the day.

3. Yoga

I am very slowly managing to do this, but not quite as consistently as i would like and cannot assess the personal benefits to me yet. I shall keep you posted .I usually manage around ten minutes, sometimes fifteen..

4. Stretching

I stretch every couple of weeks. Usually if I am feeling the odd muscle ache or stiffness. I definitely need to do this more. Hello, a physio, and I do not stretch!!? Cobbler and shoes come to mind.

5. Listening to music

This can be really great. It can be gentle or pop type melodies, and can be done in a short or a longer period of time. Lose yourself in the music and let your body and mind repair.

6. Watching a humourous clip.

This can be  restful for me unless I guffaw, in which case, it is a little tiring!

 If you have twenty minutes.

5. Napping

Sleep scientists have found that even a short nap of twenty minutes can be effective in charging your mental batteries. The most obvious benefit is that it increases alertness and decreases fatigue. This in turn then boosts your concentration ability by giving your brain a chance to restore depleted energy. Your performance is enhanced, and your creativity increased. I do not really nap, so this is something that I could work on.

6. Time outdoors

My time spent tanning is also silent for me and such food for my soul. I have made myself do this less as I am aware of the damaging effects of the sun if abused. I usually have a couple of very  gentle swims in between and these are so restful. For those who love gardening, this can also be  restful.

7. Reading

Lighthearted literature like a magazine or a novel. I can manage this with ease. More  recently I have returned to my fiction reading and it is so restorative for me.

The activities below ideally require 30 minutes or more.

 

8. Walking

I struggle to make this a form of rest unless I am walking in nature. Walking on the treadmill it does not serve as rest for me. In the Big Smoke we take the dogs out regularly and that is a restful activity.

This can also be such a simple way to facilitate creative thinking. Not only is it a form of light exercise which increase the circulation to the brain, but it can also help our brains engage in a  kind of focus which can help the mind become more creative. Walking may also aid you in solving problems particularly if you walk when the problems are still fresh in your mind.

Naturalist Charles Darwin built a “thinking path” near his home after he found that walking was so valuable a creative stimulus for him. I definitely can make time for more chilled walking.

 

9. Massage

I spend quite a bit if time massaging others and practically never get a massage myself. I like the idea of this. A facial or a pedicure or a manicure could definitely be used as rest and repair time.

Ideally 7-8 hours

10. Sleeping

This is of course the ultimate form of rest and a vital part of a productive and creative life. When we fall asleep, our bodies shift into maintenance mode and devote themselves to storing energy, fixing, or replacing damaged cells and growing while our brains clean out toxins, process the days experiences and sometimes work on problems that have been occupying our waking minds. I am working on this. I have discussed this at length in previous blogs.

I would love to strive from here on to make Calm the New cool. I am going to strive to separate my busyness from my self-worth and to truly believe that this busyness business does not add value to me as a person. My success will be  achieving this. So folks, next time you see me, I am hoping to tell that I am just so chilled!

Wishing you all a weekend of rest, restoration and repair!  i would love to hear your ideas on rest!

With thanks to Jess Sepel, Miriam Kerins, Alex Soojung-Kim Pang and Dr Rangan Chatterjee.