You made it! For most people in the US, whether Christian, Jewish, Muslim or secular today and tomorrow are pretty major holidays. Plus it’s the weekend, so I think it’s safe to say that most of us are on break!
Congratulations! Confetti!
Opportunities to rest are so rare in our overbooked, overstimulated world that I hope you seize on this opportunity and really go for it.
Here are my 5 best tips for going whole hog on rest:
- Put your phone away. Or, if you need it to take pictures, just commit deep in your heart to stay OFF Facebook, Twitter, Quartz, the New York Times, Huffington Post… pretty much anything that will shove the realities of the world in your face when YOU are trying to rest.
- Plan a way to take a nap. I have two small kids so this might mean that I allow them to watch television so I can have an hour to catch some shut eye. WORTH IT.
- Let done be done... don’t go for perfect. Inevitably, you will have a lot of opportunities to obsess today and over the next few days- Christmas dinner, wrapping presents, the state of the guest room… don’t give in to it! Do your best, get it done, and let it go… if someone else judges you, that’s for them to deal with.
- Eat something delicious and nutritious that makes you happy in your heart (you can accuse me of eating my emotions in 2017… today I accept me for who I am!!!!). Cheese comes to mind.
- Spend the entire day being grateful. If someone gives you a cup of coffee thank them as earnestly as you can. If you take a shower, send up a happy thought for the hot water. If you kid tells a hilarious (nonsensical) joke, laugh uproariously and then say “I love when you tell me jokes.” All that gratitude will create warmth in your heart and in your home and there’s nothing more restorative than that.