7 Types of Rest: Mental Rest
For the next seven days we’ll be talking about the seven different types of rest and why you might be struggling even though “you’re taking care of yourself.”
Author Saundra Dalton-Smith outlines each in her book, “Sacred Rest.” There’s creative, mental, emotional, social, sensory, spiritual and physical rest, all of which serve a different purpose in your self-care toolkit.
Let’s dive into Mental Rest here.
Dalton Smith defines mental rest as “the ability to quiet cerebral chatter and focus on things that matter.”
One of the hardest parts of living through a pandemic is feeling like everything matters. We’re using three times as much mental energy to think about things that used to be simple before — sending our kids to school, going to the grocery stores, gathering with friends, making plans for holidays.
It makes it harder — but not impossible — to do one of my favorite self-care activities of all time: Caring for your Future Self.
Self-care isn’t just about the present. When you begin to have a lens geared toward your Future Self, your days get less stressful by design.
If you want to have less mental noise, make sure you’re not creating more problems for yourself by doing whatever you can now to make sure your Future Self has what she needs.
That means stopping on my way home to get gas instead of waiting for her to do it later.
That means buying tickets to an upcoming online comedy show to give her something to look forward to.
That means plopping something in the slow cooker in the am so she’s not scrambling for dinner later.
Small, intentional gestures say “I love you.” So I do them and grow in gratitude for my relationship with self.
Here’s a few ways (no matter what is going on) you can care for your Future Self:
Meal planning
Setting reminders and writing things down so you don’t forget them and cause yourself stress later
Scheduling socially distanced/virtual date nights or hangouts with friends
Making a therapy appointment
Delegating
Setting a bedtime timer
Ordering eye masks and other sleep accessories to get a good night’s rest
Scheduling a “do-nothing” day
Signing up for our Check-In Sessions
How do you best take care of your Future Self?
More from the REST series:
