While the chill in the air is a welcome sign of Fall, it also brings seasonal sickness and plenty of stress. When people think of self-care activities, most imagine face masks, Netflix binges, and ordering your favorite food. While these can be a much needed break, grounding yourself and connecting with what type of rest your body needs is essential to a true rest day.
Retrain your brain
In reframing your thinking around self-care in terms of physical, social, spiritual, and creative rest, you can reconnect with yourself and nourish your body. By creating self-care time, you can feel revitalized and ready to jump back into your day with added energy. A way to get started would be to set a timer for 5 minutes and brain dump all of the things you’re feeling and sensing within. This can be done with journaling, on a post-it, or a personal reflection through a mini meditation.
Physical rest
When thinking about physical rest, it is best to take it literally and consider how you are resting your body. This may include sleeping for hours or taking time to stretch and feel where you need respite. If you sit a lot during the day, maybe your rest is taking a walk outside or doing some yoga to get back in the flow. Physical rest also pairs nicely with nourishing your body with whole foods to foster healing and overall wellness.
social & sensory rest
A true rest time allows you to disconnect from tech even if for a little while. It is all about finding what fits you best, so this may be staying off your phone for a few hours or completely unplugging from TV, computer, iPads, etc. for the rest of your day. The key with this is allowing your brain to quiet, process, and rest as opposed to introducing new stimuli constantly. Another idea is to do activities you enjoy with friends and taking time to talk, be present and foster connection with others who bring joy and love into your life.
spiritual rest
While social and physical rest can be easy to pick up on when you need a break, finding your style of soul rest encompasses what is happening within. Take a moment to breathe and imagine a center of light within you. When you are constantly on the go this light is dimmed as you expend energy, in coming back to yourself and your soul you bring this light back. In thinking about activities for this rest, you should personalize, whether that’s meditation, prayer, going to a spiritual center, or connecting with a group of others who fill your cup.
creative rest
Although you may be thinking, Why would I want to rest from being creative? this type of rest means taking the time to restore and inspire yourself. This could be knitting, crocheting, painting, drawing, or whatever mode of creativity sparks your interest. A tip is to think of this as play time to explore and open your mind in ways you may not have thought of before.
Remember you deserve rest and it will always help in the long run to take the time for your self-care. Follow what feels good, find your balance, and be compassionate towards yourself when life crazy happens.
