Tag: Rest

The post-Christmas Wild West

Posted on by Han_A

It’s officially Tue-nes-ri-day 37th December, and I’m in the throes of timelessness.

Even to make that joke (shoutout to the viral tweet that made it first), I had to look at my phone to check what day it is. Weirdly, by the time work ends in December and I’m officially off, I just track time based on milestones. ‘Christmas is in X amount of days, ’ and after that is Boxing Day, and so forth. If you asked me, even on Christmas day, what day it was exactly, you would not have gotten a confident answer from me. You still wouldn’t, I’m afraid.

Christmas leftovers are gone, if not down to the final crumbs. My schedule and body clock discipline are in the gutter, but to be honest, I don’t mind it too much. I’ve made the most of it, breezing through a few films in the comfort of my four walls, and even branched out to the cinema to watch the most recent Avatar film (Avatar: Fire & Ash). If you’ve watched it (or any other, let me know so we can compare notes!)

  • Amber Alert (Netflix) – recent thriller following two strangers on an impromptu mission to rescue a kidnapped child.
  • Mothering Sunday (2021) ft Olivia Coleman and Colin Firth – alright but a bit dry, which was surprising considering its strong cast.
  • Happiest Season, a Lesbian festive romcom featuring Kristen Stewart.
  • Boxing Day – British festive romcom featuring (and produced too, I believe) by Aml Ameen

I’m trying to really savour slowing down and having rest. Particularly when working takes up all your time, you lose opportunities to crack on with certain tasks. For me, it’s usually related to cleaning my flat in some shape or form. Because those tasks are never urgent and I’m physically out of the house for work, they’re so easy to just keep putting off.  So, this winter break has been valuable to just catch up on that backlog as well as crack on with some life admin and film bingeing.

Despite my mixture of moaning and joy this season, I am aware, as it does every year, that this winter break will be over in a flash of an eye. In fact, it nearly is – I’m just trying not to think about it too much. Literally by next week (of January 2nd for some poor souls), they’ll be back in the office like last week never even happened. All the books, deep cleaning, and film watching on their list will have to wait till the next bank holiday or annual leave they have.

On that note – I’m wishing you a peaceful break, while it lasts. 😊💖

Investing in Rest

Posted on by Han_A

‘By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so, on the seventh day he rested from all his work.’- Genesis 2:2

True story – in the process of writing this post I was looking for a nice little quote to compliment it on the topic of rest. I was quite surprised to find the quotes on rest that I found were mostly negative. Some examples below:

‘You’ll have time to rest when you’re dead’ – Robert De Niro

‘If you rest, you rust’ – Helen Hayes

Rest vs work

Embedded deep in the mentality behind such quotes is the belief that rest is counterproductive to getting work done. However, to avoid falling for such fallacy it is important to always think of the bigger picture – a period of rejuvenation helps us not only get more work done in the long-run, it also helps us get better work done. Of course, I found some more positive quotes later on but these quotes indicate a wider problem in our society – we really don’t know how to rest. I’ve written a bit about this topic here in a previous blog post, but as we continue life post-Easter break in the UK (which was hopefully filled with rest for many), I wanted to touch on it some more.

The social media hustle and grind culture, which primarily focuses on non-stop working in order to be wealthy can be quite counterproductive at times. For example, the rise in young people having a ‘side hustle’ – has been very transformative to some, I’m sure, but it also means a now blurred line between rest and work since an activity which used to be part of the former for you, has now become the latter. Statistics from 2018 showed 40% of people in the UK who were surveyed had a side hustle. 40%! Someone tweeted the other day an observation that this trend of young people in particular monetising their hobbies is really not normal, and I’m inclined to agree. As mentioned in the article just linked, the rise of side hustles is due to increasing job insecurity, an issue which, like many others, has likely only been exacerbated by the pandemic. All I’ll say is, nothing – not even the alluring promise of success and wealth, is worth killing yourself over. Do note, I’m not anti-side hustle, but I do believe with such endeavours it can become all to easy to stretch yourself thin, that’s all.

Rest = doing nothing?

You may have noticed that above I referred to activities that help with your rest. Contrary to the way it is sometimes portrayed in the media, the art of resting is not just limited to sleep or doing nothing at all. Certain activities we enjoy have a calming effect on us and are perfect for unwinding – whether it be stretching, baking or going for a stroll.

A month or two ago, for example, I did a colouring in activity as part of church weekend retreat (done virtually this year, of course) and I have to say it was surprisingly very refreshing. It’s quite a mindless activity and honestly it was the first time I had done it since I was a child. For a split moment of your day, your only and foremost concern is co-ordinating colours and colouring within the lines of the image outline. I can now understand why in recent years adult colouring books have been trending.

Here are some things that could perhaps restore your work/life balance and help you get better rest:

  • Know the signs of burnout – physical tiredness, headaches, irritation, lack of concentration etc. Being burnt out makes it harder to work so it’s important to know the signs so you can quickly dial things back in and get some rest.
  • Say NO – it is important to be possessive with your me-time, don’t make it ‘us’ time bybending to the needs of others
  • The importance of discipline – put that work device away – it can wait till after your holiday or weekend is over!
  • What is your escape? – have a magic carpet – something that can you can temporarily dive into to relax and distract you a bit from the world’s madness. For me it’s definitely books and TV shows; what are yours?

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Thanks for reading and have a lovely day!

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