Rest- It's just as important as seasons of hustle

Rest

Before I met Matt, I was always in hustle mode, there was a part of me that really liked being known as always busy, too busy, and a lot of us.. women for sure do this and it becomes a martyr mentality of who’s the most busy, the most tired, has the least amount of time on their hands and can’t possible do anything for themselves because we’re far too busy serving everyone else.. yikes, even saying that now, I know so many women truly struggle with this. 

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Rest. It is something that has been coming up a lot in my life in the last couple years, and then again recently in a sermon for the last few weeks that my church has been speaking on.

Before I met Matt, I was always in hustle mode, there was a part of me that really liked being known as always busy, too busy, and a lot of us.. women for sure do this and it becomes a martyr mentality of who’s the most busy, the most tired, has the least amount of time on their hands and can’t possible do anything for themselves because we’re far too busy serving everyone else.. yikes, even saying that now, I know so many women truly struggle with this.

I think there is a season of hustle, and I think the seasons of hustle change just like the seasons every year. And just like the seasons, there’s always one of rest, peace, rejuvenation. And if you don’t think that seasons, plants, animals, and everything else needs rest but us.. I’d truly have to say you’re wrong. I think we’re here to work hard, serve, and be examples to those around us, but even in the Bible God speaks of rest, a day each week and then a year every 7 years.

And I know when I first hear people talking about rest (or even play) I think no, I can’t. I don’t have time, I’ll do it when I get xyz, when I make x amount of money in my business, in another season…. And before Matt and I started dating.. that season of rest didn’t ever just HAPPEN… because it never does.

It’s been something Matt and I have talked about often, I watched him work hard and play hard… and for the first time seeing it from a different perspective and then applying it to my life, I saw how much time I really had, how productive I could be and still rest, and how important it was for relationship building. I know I KNEW it was important, but I didn’t apply it. I didn’t see friends really, I always was working from sun up (or when I’d wake up) to yawning while I fell asleep, I thought I had to hustle all the time forever if I wanted to get ahead. And instead I watched him work hard, play hard, and be my peace. Even without him ever telling me, it encouraged me to rest.. to MAKE TIME for rest just by watching him.

There are still things I’m working on in this, I sometimes DO have that twinge of guilt that maybe I should write back in .2 seconds I receive an email at 10 pm on a Saturday.. I didn’t want to miss out, I didn’t want to miss out on a client, a sale, I was always available and what I found was.. I was exhausted. All the time and I really wasn’t moving the money needle forward much faster.

I still have some days that I work really late, Matt will crawl into bed and I’ll have the computer on my lap.. but it’s not often and I have allowed myself not only rest but a peaceful mind while I rest, because how many of us “rest” but really thinking about all the things we should be doing in business, calls to make, and all the chores that could be getting done.

Now, I have hustle modes like seasons, and I’ve learned them very precisely even down to when I hustle in reading and when I rest at the end of the year, when I hustle is learning vs when I’m applying, and when I’m working on bringing in NEW projects vs what time of year I’m just working IN the business. It took me years and I’m still learning, but it’s been a game changer for me to recognize my hustle and rest seasons and apply and know because I allow them I do better at them because I’m doing them out of HAVE to at times of year I’m burnt out, I’m learning my seasons of growth, application, and rest.

Boundaries are something I’ve talked about a few times and especially in episode ___ so go back to that episode to chat more in depth about boundaries specifically but boundaries in business, in friendships, and in my own valued time has changed how I work. And want to know the truth about hustle mode vs learning your seasons and resting? I get more work done.. there are studies about how we will get done exactly what we need to in the time we give ourselves. A project that’s due in a week? It’ll get done. A project due in 6 months? It’ll take 6 months. I have been setting specific boundaries for clients/even those I’m having on the podcast and with myself and I get more done because I’m working more clearly and concise in the time I give. I can think more clearly and excitedly because I allow myself to rest.

Now, I know may say they don’t have time, they have a business, 5 kids, a husband or spouse, working, driving, cooking, cleaning. We’re all busy sometimes- I run a business and contract work for a couple other businesses, I host a podcast, I run all my website and design and contact and clients, I workout and cook and clean and there always could be a few more hours in the day.. but if we don’t make time to rest, we’re doing our families, our friends, our selves a disservice.

When we rest, we are restored. My pastor recently quoted to rest IN the mess not waiting for it to go away. It never will, we’ll always be waiting. Another thing the pastor said was.. resting is more about trusting than about relaxing and that really got me thinking about what rest is.. it’s trusting that God wants you to show up intentionally with those you love and the things that you say are your values.. it’s trusting that even though you stop, it will be provided, that you don’t need to be moving 24/7 for the abundance to continue, and allowing peace to wash over you when you feel you’re the only one that can do all the things.

One thing We talked about then was.. what was rest.. what IS restfulness? It’s not just sleeping, although sleeping is wonderful and it might look different to every person but decided that rest is something that brings peace, joy, contentment, and rejuvenation. After church on Sunday, we had the day together, we went to the golf range, went to a pool hall, and even played some Mario kart 64. We worked a little in the morning, we did a few chores here and there, but what brought rest for us was quality time doing things that brought us together and was peaceful. It felt life giving and brought us lots of laughter. SO maybe you can’t sit and do nothing for 17 hours straight, I get it.. there’s things to do.

But I cannot stress enough the importance of rest. Find things that give you peace… sometimes for me its a long walk and a podcast alone or with Murphy my dog, sometimes it’s a walk with friends, it could be watching a tv show to just stop moving for 5 seconds, working out, or ordering food instead of cooking once a week because you’re tired of being on your feet. Maybe rest is reading, Find what brings you peace and rejuvenation, and make sure to schedule that into your life. Hustle and busyness will never go away, we can always find excuses to why we just possibly can’t schedule in rest, or we can re evaluate importance of us showing up intentionally, serving joyfully, and showing to those little eyes and peers watching what it means to have some rest or as I liked to call it instead.. play.

What if you mediated on these words? Your ability to rest is your ability to be affective? When we’re overwhelmed and burnt out, we’re not bringing our best, when we constantly hustle and forget about the values we say and the people we love, we aren’t setting an example of our best, and when you allow every boundary to be crossed and you get absolutely no rest.. we aren’t loving ourselves either.

I know that even though I’m not perfect at it, I’ve allowed rest, play, and joy in every day that I am more affective at my career, my giving, my friendships, and serving. It will and does feel selfish sometimes when I think about the things I SHOULD be doing, but in the grand scheme, Im already looking back and remembering the rest moments, the moments I’m doing the things that I claim I want to do, because I make time to do them, rather than hustle mode where I can never rest.. and in that, I’m able to give back so much more.

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