{"id":1360,"date":"2018-12-07T20:22:58","date_gmt":"2018-12-07T20:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedavisgroup.org\/?p=1360"},"modified":"2021-10-19T21:22:53","modified_gmt":"2021-10-19T21:22:53","slug":"why-rest-is-as-integral-to-fulfilling-work-as-the-work-itself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedavisgroup.org\/why-rest-is-as-integral-to-fulfilling-work-as-the-work-itself\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Rest is as Integral to Fulfilling Work as the Work Itself"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Michelle Hutchings, MA, LMFT<\/a><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

 Take a minute and remember the last time you took a legitimate break, had some real rest. Can you remember, or has it been a while? And perhaps the word \u201clegitimate\u201d sort of makes you pause there \u2013 \u201cwhat constitutes \u2018legitimate\u2019?\u201d If you had a thought similar to this, then whatever rest or break you\u2019re thinking of probably wasn\u2019t legitimate! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In America we\u2019ve come to assume that a busy life is a worthy life, that to be stretched for time means you\u2019re an honorable worker and human. If this is the expectation, then the imbalance of overburdening yourself with work leaves you with little to no time to rest or take a real break. Many times because of this message about busy-ness equaling worthiness, we then feel lazy or guilty when we do take a break,<\/strong> which gives us the assumption that it is indeed a bad thing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But here\u2019s a radical thought for you \u2013 what if rest is as integral to successful and fulfilling work as the work itself<\/strong>? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before you scoff, let\u2019s consider a couple real-life examples: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In weight training, you use a weight that pushes you and makes you exert yourself, focus on good form, perhaps even do reps till you reach muscle failure. And then\u2026 you take a rest. <\/strong>You let the muscle sit for a bit, you breathe, you maybe take a drink of water or shake out the muscle being worked. And then you do your next set of reps. You take that rest between sets, even if it is short, because it then helps you to do as best you can on the next set. It gives a mini recharge to the muscle so that you both have more of an ability to do another set (and have good form) and <\/em>so that you do not injure yourself. You don\u2019t keep holding the weight between sets, or do half-hearted reps between real sets. The rest is integral to building the muscle and staying uninjured. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When studying for a large exam, most if not all study\/prep materials advise you to study for certain amounts of time and then to do something else, or ideally, take a nap or go to bed.<\/strong> This is because research on the brain shows that what is happening in our brains while we sleep is (in part) a combination of solidifying new information gained that day, incorporating it into our existing schemas, and even making new connections we couldn\u2019t have made while awake<\/em>, and clearing out old, unused information to make room for all that new stuff. This is incredibly helpful not only for studying and educational purposes, but for all <\/em>types of new learning \u2013 be it from school, work, learning a new skill or improving upon an existing one, trying out a new hobby, or even participating in conversations that presented new ideas or perspectives to you. Essentially, rest makes your brain smarter and more efficient! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is important to understand that the effect on our work of <\/strong>not <\/strong><\/em>taking rest is substantial and real.<\/strong> Much like the examples above, to not incorporate rest is to dilute the power and effectiveness of your work, to set yourself up for some kind of \u201cinjury\u201d (a mental or emotional breakdown, a physical injury, negative health effects from prolonged stress, taking it out on a loved one, etc.), and to perpetuate a cycle of feeling unfulfilled and dissatisfied with your work, which causes you to work harder, more, longer in an attempt to fix that\u2026 which causes less fulfilling and satisfying work and the products of it, and so on and so on in a never-ending cycle of \u201cnot enough\u201d. This is not to say you cannot accomplish anything if you don\u2019t rest \u2013 of course you can. It can even be pretty good. But, it will also be a muted end result, and an unnecessarily large toll on you without that rest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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