“But when you leave, we will still be here. And if we do not drink tea, we cannot make it to tomorrow.”
- Veteran missionaries, to bright-eyed young missionaries
I just finished reading a book called, Rest: Living in Sabbath Simplicity by Keri Wyatt Kent. It’s a book that runs counter to the go-go-go world that society forces down our throat. It approaches the idea of the Sabbath from several different angles, and highlights the general importance of rest. Overall, moderately readable book, super important message.
I know I’m guilty of worshiping the productivity gods. In college I ran cross country, and took classic pre-med classes like biochemistry and physics. Basically, I was surrounded with overachievers of all kinds, and I thought I worked hard, but I was always blown away by the level of commitment displayed by my peers.
Being surrounded by such an overachieving atmosphere, my competitive side drew me to want gold stars, and push myself more and more. I figured, people would like me more, only if I did more. This tendency caused me to burn out repeatedly, and then go into a vegetable-like coma for days, inefficiently trying to recover.
At the same time, I also noticed that my peers had a frantic aura of not having enough time. I felt like I couldn’t ask them to help me with a problem set, cover one of my shifts at work, or even just chat about my problems. Seeing how inaccessible this made them, I promised myself not to carry that same aura.
So anyways, this desire to be accessible has intrigued me with the idea of Sabbath. Rest raised the important point that Sabbath is not just about rest and veging out, ie - sitting mindlessly in front of the TV for hours on end or sleeping through half the day.
Instead, it’s about separating ourselves from our self-importance, appreciating the people around us, and replenishing ourselves with the energy we need to face the week. I love this concept of intentional recovery, not only so I don’t have to deal with the stress of burnout, but also just so I can be accessible, and generally a nice person.
I think this sort of rest has to include a general mentality of rest, in addition to a set of behaviors.
As far as the mentality goes, it has to be an ongoing - every day and every moment - type of mentality focusing on rest. Simply being appreciative of those few moments in the middle of a busy day that I can take to read the sports section of the paper, or take an extra minute to breathe before I rush out of the shower. I kind of imagine stress being a cumulative thing, where I try not to let it get past a tipping point, so those small moments of reducing my stress level is a huge help.
The set of behaviors is a lot more complicated for me to figure out. As for a starting point, as much as it pains me not to “be productive” for a day, I think it has to start with taking a day off from work. Then, the focus has to move to those life-replenishing things. For me, I need enough alone time to blow off some steam by working out, but also time to reflect on my week by writing, like now.
Anyways, hopefully focusing on rest will help me make it to tomorrow.
from ken
Are you thinking about something? Write about it and post it here! Email me! ken.e.noguchi@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment