Recently, I noticed a lot of my posts this summer have focused on resting and recharging. This got me thinking about how this happened. I know people tend to focus on relaxing in the summer, which makes perfect sense. But all year, I’ve had a fixated interest in the concept of rest. At first, I wanted to unlearn the concept of rest that I’d practiced my entire life in favor of something new. But I learned something else invigorating about resting and recharging, and I’d like to share that today.
For a long time, I was fixated on finding the ‘right’ ways to rest. What do I mean mean by that? Well, I thought that there were ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ ways for my to find rest. Whether it’s physically, mentally or emotionally, I wanted to know exactly where to turn to when I needed to rest and recharge. And while that was a good place for me to start, it didn’t turn out to always be the healthiest attitude for my long-term mental health.
First I acknowledged that, even if I thought I’d been good at it, finding ways to rest isn’t really something I’ve ever excelled at. Then, I focused on strategies and other techniques to find ways to prioritize rest. All of this research and reflection was helpful, but I wasn’t sure if I was getting to the heart of the matter. That’s when I realized that a crucial aspect of all of this is my overall attitude toward how I recharge and reset myself.
I’ll be honest — I used to think that the only way to every achieve rest was to lay down and take a nap. Now don’t get me wrong, that is a brilliant way of resting (in fact, I’m writing this as I lay down in bed!), but it’s far from the only way. And that’s the change in attitude I want to work on.
Throughout my mental health journey, I’ve learned that there are so many ways to achieve a singular goal. There are so many ways to achieve our goals, and instead of always trying to find the ‘right” one, we might need to focus on what we need in the moment. Then, those things can be even more beneficial for us because it’s an active choice, rather than something we turn to as a last resort or desperate choice.
Finding more ways to reset, recharge and move forward is always going to be beneficial for our mental wellness. Simple or complicated, big or small, the more things we know about ourselves, the better off we are on our mental health journeys.
