The Value of Rest: Reframing Lazy Days to Experience Productive Self-Care
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Growing up we were told to work hard. Sleep when you’re dead. There’s never enough time here to accomplish all that you should accomplish.
Now I see so clearly the scarcity in those statements. The fear around never doing enough, never having enough, and never being enough.
The truth is, it is very unlikely to create a rich, meaningful, and fulfilling life when coming from a place of fear.
The idea that we all need to be rushing around is just a way to distract from the truth.
Doing more is not going to bring you to a point in life where you can sit back and enjoy because when you come from a place of fear, achieving more than your wildest dreams, still won’t feel like enough to fill the void inside of you.
Now this is not to say that none of us should have dreams and goals to work towards. But cliché or not, most of life’s joy is during the journey.
So sacrificing your health, family, and hobbies all for one aspect of your life, will only lead to an inevitable wake-up call where you realize that it was not worth it.
In order to maintain thriving health and have the downtime necessary to create the things you want in the world, you need rest.
Rest is the real fuel to propel you to higher levels of success.
Rest Is Required for Physical Health
When we are constantly in a go, go, go energy, our bodies are on high alert.
Living in this constant stress state wreaks havoc on our health.
The body cannot digest properly or expel toxins when in a stress state. This causes weight gain, inflammation, acne, muscle pain, and a whole host of chronic illnesses.
Most people are trying to impress others by working overtime in an unfulfilling career, hack their health with some crazy diet, and feel happy doing it.
That route causes a whole bunch of unnecessary suffering. By changing nothing except your sleep schedule to get 9 hours every night, 90% of your health problems would resolve.
The whole notion of “You have to slow down to speed up,” couldn’t be more true.
By doing less, your body has the space to do what it’s meant to do — keep you healthy and energized.
When you feel well rested, you don’t crave unhealthy food and habits hardly ever AND you can think clearly which makes you more productive.
So if you had to work late and couldn’t get to sleep until 11 pm, your body will actually feel better if you skip your 5 am gym session and sleep in.
Your physical body can not thrive long-term if you ignore rest.
The extremists will always end up with a major injury or health issue every few months that forces them to rest because they didn’t choose to rest on their own.
If you don’t schedule rest, your body will schedule it for you and that is never as pleasant an experience.
Mental Health Medicine
Everyone today is talking about how our world has a mental health crisis. Often the first line of defense is to get on some kind of pill to numb out all your emotions and leave you living a dull-feeling life.
In my personal experience and the experience of people in my circle, mental health heals by first sleeping well. Being well rested leads to improved physical health which then gets the ball rolling for you to start taking control of your life and feeling empowered.
When you feel lost in life, the best thing you can do is take a beat to figure out a positive plan forward. By taking time to rest, as much as you need, your mind will naturally start to think of creative new ways to improve your situation.
Being sleep-deprived instantly places you in a fragile, emotional state. Most of us become so used to feeling reactive and triggered that it feels like normal.
Carrying on this way hurts your relationships, your productivity, and your self-esteem which obviously takes a toll on mental health.
I’ve found that when you choose to sleep more, things quickly start to turn around. No doctors required.
If your life feels stagnant or purposeless, the best thing to pour your energy into is physical health. Sleep well, cook yourself nourishing meals, and discover the movement practices that feel uplifting.
Now you’ve set yourself up to start enjoying life, opening your mind to allow for daydreaming and creative thoughts.
From this place of peace and restoration you can flow through the activities that feel amazing and watch as you uncover solutions that you couldn’t see before.
A joyful life is created from a place of inspiration, high-vibe, and productive movement in the right direction. All of that is made possible when you are well rested.
Follow Nature’s Sleep Schedule
Now that we know the value of rest, how does this look in practice? Because let’s be real, our society does not set us up for this well.
First, you need to get your day-to-day sleep nailed down.
Ditch those identities you like to label yourself as being a “morning or night person”. Those are not real. All humans have an internal clock called our circadian clock which is aligned with the sun.
When the sun is rising, humans should be rising. When the sun is setting, humans should be winding down and preparing to rest.
Using the sun as your guide for when to rest is the best way to align your body with nature’s healing frequencies, giving you the greatest benefits.
This is important because our bodies are interconnected with nature. As much as scientists and biohackers like to think that humans can outsmart nature, we can’t.
Studies have shown that getting 9 hours of sleep from midnight to 9 am does not offer the same restorative benefits as 9 hours of rest aligned with the sun, like 9 pm - 6 am.
So as best as you can for your lifestyle, try to go to sleep as close to sundown as possible and wake up as close to sunrise as possible for optimal daily restoration.
Using “Do Nothing Days” to Serve You Long-Term
A “Do Nothing Day” is something I started planning a few years ago after my husband told me that he couldn’t handle how overly scheduled our weekends were.
I used to think we had to make the most of our time together on the weekends by using up every second of free time with activities — Friday night dinner and bars with friends, Saturday morning hike, picnic, wine tasting, then nightly outing… Sunday morning coffee shop hangout, then pool day, before packing up and preparing for the work week ahead.
It looked like we were having fun, but with all the busyness, we were exhausted and we didn’t have much space to spend quality alone time.
Turns out my husband was right. Studies have shown that having one “lazy” day per week is extremely beneficial for restoration and holistic health. It makes you far more productive the following days after and it increases happiness levels.
Especially if you are someone who works a lot during the week, you need days of rest in order to remain grounded and energized.
Although the weekend activities were fun… Fun events in the moment don’t always serve your long-term happiness.
Oftentimes social events leave us feeling more drained than before, especially when it includes drinking and staying up late.
This is why I started scheduling “Do Nothing Days”.
As a big planner, I usually had our weekends booked out sometimes months in advance. So as I made plans for the month, I became more intentional about what activities and events I genuinely wanted to attend, then pushed off others so I could fit in one “Do Nothing Day” on the calendar.
What Qualifies a “Do Nothing Day”?
I think there is a huge difference between a “Do Nothing Day” and a “free day”. Both are important and here’s how to utilize them.
A “Do Nothing Day” is more closely tied to what the TikTokers call “Bed Rotting”. It’s a day to lay around with zero to-do list. This is not the day to clean your house, make sourdough, and start writing your book… I’ll get to those days next.
A “Do Nothing Day” is something that is extremely difficult for high achievers which is why it is so important. On this day, you lay in bed until noon. You watch whatever TV shows you normally would think are a waste of time. You just simply be.
On my “Do Nothing Days” I like to lay with my husband for hours. Give each other massages. Have coffee. Binge watch an entire season of a show on the couch together. Usually I don’t get dressed or even shower at all on these days…
It’s fine. It’s just one day.
I schedule these days in at least once a quarter. So once every 3 months, there’s a “Do Nothing Day” on the calendar.
I think it’d be great if you can do it once a month, but probably not more than that. If days like this become too consistent, obviously that’d be extremely unproductive.
But if you run high-strung, and are a bit of a stress case like me, scheduling a day like this allows you to enjoy your home and enjoy your family without doing anything to “earn it”.
Being as you are without feeling guilty is such a power move and gives you a gorgeous reset to move on to a productive and successful future.
Weekly Mental Rest Days
A mental rest day or a “free day” is a day for easeful creative flow. These are different from “Do Nothing Days” because you might have an actual to-do list of things you want to accomplish, BUT it’s all low-stress activities that leave you feeling restored.
Once a week, usually on a Sunday, I schedule a mental rest day. On this day I do not work on projects that I don’t enjoy, like emails or grocery shopping. I schedule restorative practices that stimulate my creativity and allow me to tap into my femininity.
My mental rest day is full of baking sourdough while listening to an audiobook, creative writing or journaling, painting, and maybe cleaning the house or even dancing around in my underwear. I might lay in the hammock with a good book or sit on the porch with my husband and chat about our future vision.
On this day I also stay home in my pajamas, but it’s a lot more “productive” and leaves me feeling fulfilled at the end of the day.
These are your days to check in with yourself, enjoy your own company, and allow inspiration to find you.
After a mental rest day, you feel excited to jump into your week with a clear vision of where you’re steering your life.
Ditch Busy and Lazy for Productive Planned Rest
In order to perform at the highest levels in whatever you do, you must be holistically well.
Our stressful, busy lives are harming our health in all areas which makes you less productive in the long run.
So think of these quarterly “Do Nothing Days” and weekly “free days” as preventive care.
These appointments with yourself are just as important as the work thing you’d never miss.
Busy does not equal productive and occasionally doing nothing does not equal lazy.
Put your rest days on your calendar and experience how much more productive you become when you take the time to allow your body to release all that pent-up stress you’ve been holding onto.
Having intentional lazy days will save you from inconvenient lazy days that must happen when your body shuts down from overuse and neglect.
For more tips on how to prioritize rest and experience holistic health benefits, download my free ebook, 6 Pillars of Holistic Well-being.
🤍 Jaclyn
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