Do you ever have those moments where your brain just won’t shut down? Where you’re tired, but can’t get your body to sleep? I’m in one of those moments. Too many things fluttering through my brain, keeping it from slumber.
I have a lot going on right now, and sometimes I just don’t know how to sit back and rest. Between working my full-time job, taking on a couple of clients for freelance work, putting together info and presentations for coworking, finding a space for the coworking, moving to a new home, and trying to be a halfway decent husband, I don’t know where to find time to be still. And yet I know that’s important.
Growth is my theme word for 2009. Growth. Sometimes I fool myself into believing that stretching too far is growth. Stretching is one part of growing, but it is not growing in and of itself. Stretching is a step in the growth process.
But so
is
rest.
When I was a kid, I would hit these growth spurts, and sometimes gain inches at a time. My joints would hurt, my muscles would cramp. I worked through a lot of pain and discomfort during those times. Sometimes my bones would grow faster than my muscles and ligaments, and I would injure myself. Then I’d have to endure physical therapy.
Physical therapy taught me how to properly stretch, so I could not only feel better, but so I could strengthen the muscles that needed to be strong to avoid injury, like my knees and back. (Yeah, places I never even thought about working out. You don’t get the looks from the ladies by flexing your back muscles.)
One thing that I didn’t know I needed at the time, but my body knew, was rest. I would sleep for hours on end during the day. I’d take naps like I was headed for retirement. I could go to sleep anywhere and everywhere. My brain knew that rest was vital for growth.
That’s what I’m learning now.
One of the keys to growing in any area is to know when and how to get the proper rest. You can’t just keep running until you exhaust yourself. I need rest. I need holiday. My life needs a break, so I can continue to grow properly, and at a healthy pace. I can’t just stretch. I have to limit the stretching, and increase the resting.
Now I’m headed to bed, and maybe I can sleep. That would be nice.
