Rest and the Holidays

“Instead of asking, ‘Have I worked hard enough to deserve rest?’ I’ve started asking, ‘Have I rested enough to do my most loving and meaningful work?’” -Nicola Jane Hobbs

Holidays are often synonymous with joy and celebration, but can paradoxically become a season of great stress and exhaustion for many. The endless to-do lists, event preparations, social gatherings, pressure to meet familial expectations and, maybe catching up with last minute projects for work, can leave all of us feeling less festive and more frazzled. How can it be, that the seasons we work so hard towards attaining throughout the year, are ones that still leaves us feeling stretched too thin, and overwhelmed? Shouldn’t it be like the movies, where we all get to sit in front of the fire with a hot cocoa in our hands and enjoy the music while everything finds its own place?

Although we cannot teleport ourselves away into a picture perfect life, we can work on intentionally practicing and prioritizing rest in a season that offers us the opportunity to do so.Rest will never be something that lends itself to us on its own; rather, we must pursue it and practice in order to truly experience it.

The holidays often give us the illusion of busyness. We find ourselves overwhelmed and feeling lost in all the things we have yet to do and experience. However, it is important to remind ourselves that rest does not come in the chaos, but instead, it presents itself in the connections we form with those around us, as well as the moments we take to express gratitude and reflection. When we are so caught up in the busyness of life, we often miss out on recognizing moments of rest that we could have taken advantage of, or taken for granted. Our work is to not just pursue rest, but to also recognize when we do experience it. Allowing ourselves brief moments to reflect at the end of each day, and notice when we may have received pockets of rest is just as important and meaningful as checking off tasks from our never ending lists.

Resting is not synonymous with just idleness. Instead, it can manifest in many forms. Although there is value in solitude and meditation, rest is also the active choice to pursue things that bring us joy, whether that is in shared experiences with those in our community, or asking for help when we find ourselves struggling to keep up. How do our lives change, when we recognize that rest is a verb? We must practice the art of doing rest. Rather than waiting for the world around us to create spaces and times for us to rest, we must instead intentionally create boundaries, practice mindfulness, and initiate moments of rest that our bodies and minds need.

This holiday season, may we recognize that rest is not something that happens on its own, but something we must be intentional about. Instead of viewing rest as something that we must work hard to deserve, may we value ourselves enough to realize that rest is something we are all worthy of. May this holiday season be one that is memorable not only for the festivities, but also for the quiet moments of peace, connection and rejuvenation that we are able to tap into.