We are all busy. We are all in a race to get everything done in the hours we are given every day, and we all think that if we stop, we will get “behind.” However, this ideology of “locking in” and the “hustle” isn’t going to get you ahead; they are going to burn you out.
There is nothing glamorous about being busy and fidgety when you’re with friends because you have so much to get done. Not taking time to actually enjoy your meal, or having to study every second. This multitasking isn’t a superpower; it might be your downfall. We all feel like we aren’t doing enough or that we’re “behind.” We feel like rest is something that is earned when we have completed a task fully, when in reality, it is something we should be entitled to, if we are using it correctly.
I’m not saying this to give you a pass to not do your work so you can go out. I’m saying this so you understand the different kinds of rest that will enhance your work and allow you to actually get everything done. Going out with your friends is still very important to your college experience, but it isn’t rest–it’s not energizing you for the week.
I know that rest can feel guilty, indulgent even, but we shouldn’t be using it as a reward for checking things off our to-do list. It should be part of a routine for success. You have permission to rest if you need it. But with this, I am not granting you the right to rest; I’m asking you to make it a priority for yourself.
There are 7 types of rest that you can incorporate into your routines to actually feel rejuvenated
1. Physical
Restoring your body’s physical energy.
It might seem like sleep is the obvious answer, and you definitely need sleep, but just saying “get more sleep” isn’t effective. You need tools to do so.
With the crazy schedules of going out on the weekends and then getting up for your 8 am during the week, going to bed at the same time every night isn’t going to work. However, allowing yourself to sleep in some days IS valid. Sleeping in shouldn’t be a reward; if your body needs it, it needs it. But staying out late and then doom scrolling once you get home can definitely be avoided to get more sleep than you’re getting. Try putting time limits on apps you doom scroll on.
Take away that temptation before you can get to it.
2. Mental Rest
When your brain is active for very long amounts of time (class, studying, work) it needs a break.
Quieting your thoughts can help you do this. But, how do we do this?
You can try to get every thought down on paper possible so there’s nothing else for you to think about in that moment. Writing it all down with no expectation or grade can feel freeing. No pressure on any of the words, just a brain dump so it’s not working in the spaces when you don’t even know it is. Getting it all out of your brain and into your body.
Focusing on our senses instead of our thoughts can be hard, but one way is to take a walk. Focus on all of your muscles moving to take each step, focus on everything you hear (without music or a podcast), and be hyper aware of the things you’re smelling and seeing. Using your brain to be aware of your body can feel really good because you’re not thinking about what you have to do, but what your body is predetermined to accomplish without you thinking.
The next kinds of rest go hand in hand but are somewhat different:
3. Emotional rest
Life is emotionally laboring, and we need a break from it sometimes.
College is a period in your life when you are feeling all kinds of new emotions, and we need a break from them sometimes. We can’t just stop feeling, but we can try to talk through emotions to understand them better with our friends or a therapist. Talking things through can help you, but can also lead to you relating with other people and having deeper connections with your friends.
Authentically presenting your feelings to people instead of putting on a face and being “on” while you suppress them can be emotional rest.
4. Social Rest
Being “on” all the time in social settings is hard; we need to rest to put our best foot forward when making impressions.
You can set boundaries with people so you have the time to just be authentically you. Fostering relationships with people with whom you feel like yourself can also be a form of social rest.
Feeling understood is one of those feelings that I think you start to encounter in college because you’re around people who think like you, who want the same future, and you get to be around them all the time, so take advantage of this. However, taking the time to cultivate those relationships can be difficult, so taking time for yourself, doing things alone, can be beneficial.
It is scary to be alone, but going on a walk, to a cafe, or the library by yourself is a good thing, so you can figure out who you truly are away from your social life.
5. Sensory Rest
The world is loud, college is even louder, and technology makes it all worse. We are all constantly on our phones, seeing, listening to, and absorbing media and information. We need to take time away from this sometimes, so we don’t start to feel overwhelmed.
Staying informed online about our world is important, but it can feel very scary and overpowering.
If you feel like every day is going super fast and you can’t keep up, try sensory rest. Don’t look at your phone, don’t listen to music, don’t listen to a podcast, don’t even have your phone in your pocket.
Stare at a wall, lie down on the floor, or bed, or sit on the couch with a blanket wrapped around you and just sit in your environment, taking in your own senses, not the extended outside world through your phone.
Do some box breathing (breathe in 4 seconds, hold 4 seconds, breathe out 4 seconds, hold 4 seconds); this is scientifically proven to calm your sensory nervous system. I think this is very similar to mental rest in that you can also use a walk of listening to everything around you as rest, but I think the difference is that the outside world can even feel overpowering sometimes, especially when students are walking around chatting, laughing, so just listen to some white noise and rest.
6. Creative Rest
Problem-solving all the time is hard. We do it too often with the rigor of UVA, if we can find ways to take ourselves out of that analytical, critical, problem-solving brain and into a judgment-free, artistic, creative one, it can fuel the academic validation without any of the pressure.
Creating something can give you the feeling of awe or inspiration to keep you going through the stressors of school, so incorporating creative hobbies can help this. Start writing a story, paint, draw, or take photographs of your walk. Capture the beauty of the world through your eyes, so you have something tangible from your time of rest if you’re feeling especially “lazy.” Your rest can be productive, too!
7. Spiritual Rest
Believing in a greater power than yourself can be very beneficial, whatever, whomever it is you believe in. Taking the pressure off yourself of thinking you have that much power can be nice. Feeling not completely in control of every decision: “everything happens for a reason” can be a form of rest if you want it to be.
All of these types of rest can be useful to reframe what you consider rejuvenating. Whatever you decide to do with your time is up to you, but I hope that incorporating some of these things into your routine and not feeling that guilt over them feels comforting to you.
Again, I am not granting you the right to rest, but asking you to consider making it a priority.
All of these practices can be validated by the American Psychological Association, specifically, Ashley Abramson https://www.apa.org/topics/mental-health/seven-rest-types