Does this sound familiar? You get up in the morning, and you find yourself running from place to place all day without a break. Or you work all day, then have to take care of a million things around the house or with family every evening. Maybe you run errands all weekend long. Perhaps you have a side hustle and work on that in the evenings or on weekends, without breaks. You know it’s important to take breaks and rest a bit, but you just have too much to do! You might be wondering: “How can I take a rest from a busy life? I have no time!” Here are some tips on how to rest when you’re busy!
Schedule Breaks into your Calendar
If you’re like most people, it can be easy to get sucked into your work or other activities. You might feel you have to get just a little more done…*then* you’ll take a break. This can especially be the case if you’ve got an urgent deadline. But if you work for hours on end, your brain won’t work as efficiently. Your mind and body need a break to reset every so often. This also helps reduce “decision fatigue,” in which your reasoning skills can decrease when making countless decisions all day long. (In fact, a 2011 analysis of judges’ decisions to offer parole found that they were less likely to grant it if they’d been working for a longer period. Once they had a break, they were more likely to fully weigh all the reasons for saying yes and granting parole.)
In order to ensure you don’t “forget” to take a break, schedule them into your calendar. You wouldn’t be likely to abandon a meeting with your coworkers or boss, right? Treat these “scheduled breaks” like an official meeting, with your mind and body as the attendees. After all, without a break, who knows how many bad decisions you might actually be making, that you would catch if you had a reset?
How You Spend that Break Matters
When you have a few minutes to yourself, is the first thing you do to pull out the phone, check email, and/or scroll through messages/notifications/social media? Unfortunately, this isn’t what’s needed to reset your brain. Instead, you’re overloading your mind with lots of extra “stuff.” You’re not taking a break from your work; rather, you’re shoving more stimuli into your head, most of which either doesn’t actually matter or may actually make you unhappy. (For tips on how to detox from your smartphone and social media, check out this article.)
Instead, do something that will refresh your mind. Go outside for a walk, or even a walk around the building. According to a 2014 study, walking actually stimulates creativity, with walking outdoors generating the best results. Meditating for even a few minutes can also reset your mind. Personally, when I dealt with stressful situations in the corporate world, I’d put some earbuds in, close my eyes, and listen to a 3-minute meditation. This small experience was enough to allow me to step back the situation and make me feel renewed again.
Meditate While Waiting or Traveling
Meditation is a great way to calm and focus your mind. It can be catered to your needs at the moment, and doesn’t need to be done in any particular setting. You can be sitting with your eyes closed, or you can practice while walking. Meditation involves focusing your attention on a specific focal point, giving your mind a break from constant wandering and analysis.
If you’re still wondering how to rest when you’re busy, try taking meditative breaks while you’re doing something that doesn’t require much attention. For example, when you’re waiting in line somewhere or walking or driving to a destination: things that are a natural part of your day. Instead of breaking out the phone while waiting, take a few minutes to meditate. You could concentrate on deep breathing, focusing on your breath. You could do a mental scan of your body, noticing any sensations you feel throughout. While walking, you can focus on the action of your body moving, what it feels like when your feet touch the ground, feeling your arms swing at your sides. When driving, you can actively observe any sounds you hear, and feel the hum of the engine, concentrating on the experience of driving. In this way, you give your mind something to focus on, freeing it from decisions or running thoughts.
Take One Day Each Weekend to Just Relax
Don’t you just love having a holiday during the week? Your whole mindset relaxes when you’re off for MLK Day, or Veterans Day, or when you take one day off from work. Now imagine you could have that feeling *every week*.
Here’s a great way to take a rest from a busy life in general: take a full day each weekend to recharge. (And before you dismiss this because you think you can’t fit it in, read the last tip below and I’ll show you how!) Take this time completely away from work – no checking emails or the calendar! Try to remove any obligations or appointments from this day. Don’t run errands or do chores. Just enjoy this time doing something you love and spending time with family. After a day off, you’ll be much happier and ready to jump back into the ordinary activities of everyday life.
Learn to Say No
You may be thinking: “How on Earth can I take a whole day off each week? I don’t have time. There’s too much to do.” Here’s why it’s important to learn one thing: how to say no. Tons of activities will always be vying for your attention. If you say yes to everything, that might sound like a great and full life: after all, who doesn’t want to live life to the fullest? But when we try to fit a huge plethora of activities into our day, every day, we just wear ourselves out, so we can’t enjoy those things we’ve put on the schedule. You’ve got to say yes to yourself too.
So learn to say no. Once you say no to certain activities, don’t hurry to fill that now-free time with something else. Once you’ve removed enough activities, then you’ll be able to schedule breaks during the day or even take that full day off each week. Trust me, you’ll enjoy having that time free, and then you’ll be much happier when you jump into the next activity.
Takeaway
As humans, we’re industrious beings; we like to always be doing something, living life to the fullest. But it’s important to remember: it’s ok to take a break. Not only ok, but quite beneficial! Utilizing these 5 tips can help you answer the age-old question of how to rest when you’re busy. To recap:
- schedule breaks
- spend breaks wisely
- meditate while waiting/traveling
- take a full day off each weekend
- learn to say no
Engaging with all of these methods can help you take a much-needed rest from a busy life!
Have you tried any of these tips? Do you have any others that help you to relax during busy times? Let me know in the comments below!
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Cover image photo credit: IStockPhoto.com/alkir
Great tips and reminders, Diana! The idea of a full day off of “stuff” each weekend has really spoken to me as a “dare” or a challenge!
Glad you liked it, Russell! Yep, removing all the “stuff” from Shabbat (my one day off) makes it just that much more restful! I totally understand that for a lot of people, this can be hard – but even removing some stuff and switching it to other days to have one “light” day can feel liberating! [I’ve even found it helpful to limit my activities like social media, shopping, or any particular “binge-worthy” activity I’ve been perhaps a bit *too* passionate about during the week, just to give my mind a break – I’ve found that if I don’t take a break from things I love and am indulging in *too* much, then I can tire of them too quickly! (Like binging on a TV show, lol!)]