I had my mind blown the other day listening to an episode of one of my favorite podcasts, Intelligence Squared. The episode featured an interview with Claudia Hammond, author of the book The Art of Rest, which is exactly what it sounds like.
The discussion covered what rest does for us, and how it’s different than sleep. When we rest, we’re disconnecting from all the things we have to do, and doing something simple or enjoyable instead, anything from daydreaming to taking a hot bath. Hammond mentioned one really important aspect of rest that made me stop and think: if you’re feeling guilty about the thing you’re doing, it’s not restful.
When I heard that I realized I often feel guilty when I take time off to do restful things, whether it’s reading, spending time with friends, relaxing, taking a walk, or playing a video game. There’s a voice in the back of my head that tells me what I’m doing is a waste of time and that I should be spending my time on something productive. The guilt stops me from enjoying the thing I’m doing and makes me feel stressed, so that instead of recovering my energy I come out feeling worse than before.
Since I heard the podcast, I’ve been trying to disconnect from that feeling of guilt and do more of the restful things I enjoy, which has been going pretty well.
Hammond also talks about work culture and how avoiding rest and being busy makes a person seem more productive in the eyes of other people. This in turn makes us take on more and become busier so other people will see how productive we are—which, in my case, can translate to a lot of busywork.
In the interest of taking a rest I’ve decided to keep this week’s post short, and if you’re interested in this concept of rest I really encourage you to listen to the Intelligence Squared podcast or watch their Youtube video with Claudia Hammond , or check out her actual book, which I’ll certainly be reading in the near future.
Oh, and go do something restful today, because you know I’m going to :-)
Ian you are so right. This is timely as I actually sat and read a book all day yesterday, Sunday. I usually feel guilty but I started thinking…..my housework is caught up, the weather is not conducive to going out, I don’t have a sewing project in the works and I love to read. Of course there are things to be done around the house but they can wait. For the first time in a long time I had a restful weekend.