I just want to remind everyone out there that rest is an actual thing you do and when you do it you aren’t doing “nothing,” you’re doing something essential to your health and wellbeing and also essential if you want to do *anything else.*
I still manage to feel guilty when I let myself be lazy. I’m getting better about it. I’m lounging around the house while @matty.wtf plays Fallout on a morning when we have no plans, and internally I still feel like I should be doing something. It’s very dumb.
And language matters (this is not an admonishment, it is an encouragement): you aren’t “being lazy,” you are “taking care of yourself, choosing to rest, refueling for the next adventure/project.”
I often like to sit. That's it. Just sit. Not sit and read, or sit and text, or sit and and and. Just sit. Listen. Observe. And so often, whomever I'm with will suggest things for me to do. No, thank you, I'm doing it.
You are integrating your experiences. If you just *do* all the time and don't let things settle into your brain, it's like going grocery shopping, lining up, paying, and then leaving the cart in the parking lot. Yes, you've grocery shopped, but what have you accomplished? This is savasana.
You are so right and at the same time, I genuinely don't know how to/can't rest in the way I imagine others might be able to. The closest I get is "restore."
Also resting is really hard! It is not taking the easy way out! I call it Constructive Resting to encourage myself. I've got ADHD, only diagnosed at 46, which meant that when I got flu in my first year at uni and it turned into ME/CFS, I was toast.
i worked so much this past week. 12 months ago, this level of activity would have been impossible for me thanks to long covid bullshit,,,last night i started feeling warning symptoms of a flareup, so i mean it. i am taking a good break, or i will get sick again.
