It’s the beginning of another week and I have something to share with you that I have to say I have been guilty of in the past and I’m pretty sure there are other mamas that do this to themselves. I think we are the most guilty of this and that is we have got to stop treating rest as if it were a reward. I’m going to say that one more time. Stop treating rest like a reward. It is not a reward. It is a requirement. You kinda need rest to function at your best, to do all the 50 million things you do a day and it’s just kinda needed for survival. You kinda need it to live.
So we should really stop treating it as something you only get access to after you complete all the 50 million things on your to-do list. Frankly, most of our to-do lists are unrealistic but that’s another conversation for another day. You don’t need to set yourself up with this huge to-do list that you require yourself to be done with before you give yourself a moment to rest, right? The mom-ing, the working, the wife-ing, the cleaning of the house, the cooking, all of those things do not have to be done before you can get a rest whether it’s a break during the day or full night’s sleep. It’s not an if-then type of scenario. We should never treat it that way.
Rest should be top of the list because what happens is it pulls you into this vicious cycle because when you are not well rested, you do not mom well, you do not work well, you do not wife well, you don’t do anything well because your focus is down, your energy is down, your whatever physical ailments or mental ailments you may be dealing with are exacerbated when you don’t have rest. We cannot treat ourselves as if we don’t deserve something that actually is necessary for us to function and live.
And then when you get yourself into that cycle, you’re not resting enough so then you’re a less patient mom and then you beat yourself up for not being a great mom or you’re doing terribly on that diet because you have tons of craving because you’re body is confusing the signal of being tired with the signal of being hungry. Or you’re not dealing well with your mental health because you’re not well rested or your whatever physical ailment you may have is not healing properly because you won’t give yourself the rest.
Yes I did the clap.
Because we have got to stop treating rest as a reward. It is necessary. It is so necessary, y’all. And if we do not start to treat it that way, we’re just going to stay in that vicious cycle of not doing, not functioning at our highest level and then beating ourselves up because we’re not functioning at the highest level. And yet, we’re withholding the very thing that will help us function at our highest level because we’re not doing all the things that we expect ourselves to do.
Whew. We are mean to ourselves. That’s mean! Don’t be mean. You deserve rest. It is not a reward, it is something that you need to function. You can choose sleeping over straightening your house at night. It’s okay. Some of you may not be able to. You can sometimes take a 20 minute nap instead of sending those 10 emails that you can send. They can wait 20 minutes, right?
Your rest is of the utmost importance because it helps you do everything better. It helps you function at higher levels when you are well rested. So if you want to do your best at work, you want to be the best mom, you want to be the best wife, you want to complete the full blown to-do list that you have given yourself for the day, get some rest. Take a break. You can come back more focused. Go eat lunch. Let your body rest, reset, and go back and do what you were doing. You need rest. It’s not a reward, it’s a requirement. And we have to start treating it that way.
That’s all I’m going to say about that. So this week, find ways to improve your rest. Can you go to bed earlier? Can you sleep longer on the weekends? Can you take power naps? Can you take breaks throughout your day and sit your butt down and take a breather?
Your body needs the time to rest and reset. Allow yourself that time. All right, mamas. Have a wonderful week and rest.
