The Power of Rest
“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer’s day… is by no means a waste of time.” — John Lubbock
When was the last time you truly gave yourself permission to rest?
We live in a world that praises productivity and glorifies busyness. We measure our days by what we’ve crossed off the list, not by how present, peaceful, or connected we’ve felt. Yet the truth is this: we can’t pour from an empty cup. Rest isn’t a luxury or a reward we earn after working hard enough. It’s an essential part of living well.
Rest allows us to reset, recharge, and reconnect with ourselves. It’s not just about sleep; it’s about creating space for renewal: physically, emotionally, and spiritually. The beauty is that rest comes in many forms. From a few minutes of pause to a full season of stillness, each moment of rest can help restore us.
Micro-Rest: Short Breaks During the Day
Sometimes the most powerful reset is just a few minutes long.
A short break—five to ten minutes—can dramatically shift your energy and mindset. Step outside to feel the sun on your face. Breathe deeply. Stretch your neck and shoulders. Walk to the kitchen and make a cup of tea and resist the urge to check your phone!
Science shows that short breaks reduce stress and improve focus. But beyond biology, they do something more subtle: they remind us we’re human. These small pauses signal self-respect. They say, “My wellbeing matters, even in the middle of my day.”
When you give yourself permission to pause, you often return with clearer focus and renewed energy so you can reengage from a better place.
Mini-Rest: The Power of Naps
If short breaks are micro-rest, naps are their powerful cousins. A 20-minute nap can boost alertness, improve memory, and enhance mood. Yet so many of us resist them.
We tell ourselves we shouldn’t need rest—that resting means we’re weak, unmotivated, or falling behind. But the opposite is true. A nap can be wise, strategic investment in your clarity and creativity.
Try reframing naps as part of your personal operating system, like recharging your phone before the battery runs out. If you can, find a quiet spot, dim the lights, and let your body reset. Set a timer so you don’t oversleep! You’ll be surprised how even a brief rest can restore focus and calm.
Weekly Rest: Fully Using Weekends
Weekends are meant to refill us, but too often they become extensions of the workweek.
We rush through errands, catch up on chores, or squeeze in social obligations. By Sunday night, we have a full-blown case of the “Sunday scaries.” But what if weekends could be truly restorative again?
Start by asking yourself: How do my weekends make me feel—rested or drained? Then make one small shift. Protect a few hours for genuine stillness, play, or creativity, whatever feeds you. Try treating one day as a modern “Sabbath”—a time to step off the treadmill of doing and simply be.
Rest on the weekends isn’t indulgent. It’s a practice of boundaries and alignment. When you rest intentionally, you return to your week grounded, not depleted.
Seasonal Rest: Vacations as Emotional Recalibration
Vacations remind us how expansive life can feel when we’re not rushing. They give us the distance we need to see our lives with new eyes. But rest doesn’t have to mean boarding a plane—it’s about stepping out of routine.
You can create mini-vacations throughout your year: a long weekend, a day trip, or even a staycation spent exploring your city or reading in bed with no agenda.
When you give yourself permission to step away, you create space for your mind and heart to breathe. Often, the insights we’ve been searching for appear when we’re relaxed enough to hear them.
Radical Rest: The Gift of Sabbaticals
A sabbatical is rest in its deepest form—a season of pause to reflect, realign, and renew. It’s a chance to step away not because you’re quitting, but because you’re making room for what’s next.
These seasons don’t have to be formal or long. They might take the form of a few months between jobs, a creative retreat, or time devoted to caregiving or self-discovery. What matters most is the intention—to quiet the noise long enough to listen to your inner wisdom.
In these pauses, we often rediscover our purpose, our joy, and our capacity to begin again with clarity.
The Invitation to Rest
Rest isn’t something to earn—it’s something to honor.
You deserve to live at a pace that allows you to feel alive. When you rest, you reconnect with the rhythm of your own life, and that rhythm naturally leads to energy, creativity, and peace.
So here’s your invitation: build rest into your days, your weeks, your seasons, your years. Start with one extra pause today. Close your eyes, breathe deeply, and remember you are allowed to stop.
If you’re realizing how much your life could shift by making more space for rest, know that you’re not alone. Through my coaching, I help women in midlife reconnect with their energy, purpose, and sense of balance—starting with simple practices like slowing down and listening inward.
If you’d like support creating more space for rest and renewal in your own life, I’d love to connect!
