Are You Getting the Right Type of Rest?
I remember when I learned firsthand that all rest is not created equal.
After the births of both of my children, I struggled. A lot. Both births and the months that followed left me exhausted, drained, overwhelmed, and completely and utterly lost.
I kept getting the same advice over and over again: Get some sleep.
So when people would show up to take the baby, I would go lie down. I would sleep for an hour or two. And then I would wake up and feel exactly the same way.
It. was. painful.
I got so frustrated with how much going to sleep wasn’t helping that I finally got wise enough to try something else. Instead of using every opportunity to take a nap, I looked for opportunities to do other things. I took walks (hello, sun!). I went to Target. Even doing the dishes felt like relief.
Those things all made me feel infinitely better than sleeping, despite how incredibly tired I was.
It’s true that I did need sleep--but I didn’t always need it the most. Turns out what I needed the most was to move my body and feel the sun on my face and join civilization after spending hours glued to the couch all day with a baby asleep on my chest.
(And yes, I needed a therapist. I got one of those too.)
When we’re tired, we think we need sleep. Or, at the very least, to lounge around. But according to Saundra Dalton-Smith, M.D., author of Sacred Rest: Recover Your Life, Renew Your Energy, Restore Your Sanity, there are actually seven types of rest, and we’re often not getting the right ones.
The seven types of rest are physical, mental, social, creative, emotional, spiritual, and sensory. Rest in each of these areas looks a little different. Click here to read a Shine article that takes you through each type of rest. Which one do you need right now?
As for me? I’m zeroing in on sensory and creative rest this week: more walks outside, less screen time, and more curling up with a book (the kind where you turn the pages).
Here’s to getting the right kind of rest, and to trusting yourself to know what type you really need.
P.S. If you’re thinking, This all sounds lovely, but I don’t have the time to rest or feel guilty when I do, you aren’t alone. I can help you create the time and space in your life for the rest you’re craving (minus the guilt). Learn more here.
