The Great Irony of Rest

(Why less is still better than more)

Photo provided by Author

Rest.

Is there a better word in the English language?

Being at rest — preferably while lying in a hammock, staring at the ocean — is an extremely compelling thought. Too often, it is just a thought.

Early in my career, I learned a three-key shortcut: Ctrl-Alt-Del. Maybe you know it? Generally speaking, when I had too many programs running on my computer, something somewhere would overload (I usually liked to blame an outdated macro on a client file), and everything would just… freeze. Even if I hadn’t saved. Even if I had a deadline. Even if I had just opened one more document. Frozen. And the only way to unfreeze was to shut. it. down.

It makes for a great analogy, but the truth is, I’ve done this to myself many times. I tried to force one more thing into my week, squeezed in one more responsibility, said yes to one more request. And then, without warning, I overload, and I crash.

Even worse, I thought this was normal. That crashing and rebooting and overloading and crashing again was an unavoidable way to live. But 2020 taught me that the overload-and-crash cycle is not necessary. It isn’t inevitable. I have a choice.

I just finished reading The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer, and the whole book is an encouragement to build more rest into our lives (physically, emotionally, and spiritually). While it was published pre-pandemic, it offers kernels of truth about our manic culture that constantly demands more. And more. And more.

Now, I don’t know Comer, but he’s pretty quick to point out his own weaknesses in his struggle against Hurry. Which makes it infinitely easier for me to do the same, because I am the classic Type-A New Yorker. I eat Hurry for breakfast.

Or, I used to.

This little pandemic uprooted all my scheduling and busyness and multi-tasking. After a few weeks of grieving, I realized: I don’t ever want to be that busy again.

Maybe this happened to you too? Maybe you also began to see how your priorities were upside down?

When I talk to people now, over a year into the pandemic life, and we begin to dream about “what’s next?”, almost everyone agrees: we don’t want to go back to exactly what life was like before. No way.

We could list at least 1,000 things that were unjust, out of balance, and downright wrong about modern life in 2019. And that is why I think Comer is on to something when it comes to resting. We owe it to ourselves, our employees and colleagues, and our families, too.

Because resting gives us the ability to move our focus away from doing more, and on to doing better.

Here are three ways I’m pushing back on Hurry:

1- Walking. I live just far enough from Central Park that some days, just getting there and back constitutes exercise. Sometimes, I am able to spend a full 60 minutes walking. But exercise is not why walking breaks the Hurry cycle. Walking isn’t fast. Hurry-walking is hard; normal walking is easy. It reminds my mind and my body of human rhythms (Comer calls this slowing, and it is a foundational practice). I happen to think more clearly after a walk too, and that’s good for me and my team.

2- One day a week, I’m off email. Okay, I’m not great at this yet. I still check email. But I don’t give in to that voice that says “You gotta respond now.” Letting an email sit unanswered on a Saturday intentionally slows my pace down. It also resets the expectations of the person I’m communicating with. It allows her to slow down too. How great is that?

3- One day a week, I’m off social media. I’m an amateur photographer and I get a lot of joy from Instagram. I really do. But those algorithms are set up to distract and compel me, so I have to outsmart them. I’ve set up weekly breaks — which I find far more effective than doing an annual month-long break. Smaller, weekly breaks help me reset and remember that a full, healthy life requires me to connect with real human beings. (Pro tip: I wasn’t sure I could take weekly breaks, so I first started with just four times, for the month of January. When that worked, I tried it again in February. And then March…)

For me, the easiest way to break a habit is to make breaks my habit.

You may have noticed a theme with these three habits. I’m actually trying to change my rhythms, rather than make dramatic, extreme changes. I’m not trying to ban caffeine or ban the Internet or ban all screens. Instead, I’m focused on establishing more breaks in my days. For me, the easiest way to break a habit is to make breaks my habit.

Maybe you’re experimenting with slow cooking, or napping, or sabbathing, or going for ten-minute walks each day. That’s what’s great about rest — there are hundreds of ways we can experiment with rest.

What habits can you adopt — even just for a month — to reduce the Hurry in your schedule? And more importantly, what benefits are you finding when you make room for your mind and your body to rest?

Big thanks to Brent Blonkvist for sharing this treasure of a book with me!