How to Prioritize Rest in a Busy Season
At the breakfast table a few mornings ago, I yawned. Somewhat loudly. And Emily looked over at me and said, “Um, Mom? Maybe you need to go back to bed…”
To which I replied, “Great! You just go ahead and do all these dishes, change your brother’s diaper, and start homeschooling yourself, mmmkay? I’ll be snoozing in my bedroom until I’m rested. See you in a few weeks. Don’t forget, lunch is at noon!”
Just kidding. I think I tried to hide my rolling eyes and muttered, “I wish…” under my breath, before collecting the dirty dishes and slapping a smile on my face.
I had planned for this summer to be a time of rest. A step back from writing, a little more margin in my days, a lot less on my plate.
Instead, we packed up our whole house in three weeks and moved across the state.
Not exactly restful.
I’d hoped that maybe once we settled in here, there would be a little time to rest on this side of things. But the last few weeks have been filled with unpacking and settling in, and today is Jon’s first day at a new job. We’re jumping into a long and busy school year with two feet.
In the craziness of this summer, I’ve learned something a little bit revolutionary (for me).
You can either work too hard for too long, burn out, and be forced to rest, OR you can incorporate regular rest into a full life, and keep on living.
I’ve worked too hard for too long and burned out before. Many times. This year? I’m working on making rest a regular practice in my very full life.
Today, I want to share a few things I’m doing that have actually made it possible for me to make resting a priority, even in this busy season of life!
1. Make a plan for rest.
I’m a planner by nature, so you would think that this one would be a no brainer, but it wasn’t. I’ve always been good at planning out my to-do lists, my work schedule, the kids’ appointments, and everything I needed to get done, BUT I was absolutely exhausted.
Why? Because I only planned for work – I never planned for rest!
I’m learning that if I actually schedule a rest period into my day, I’m more motivated to get everything else done beforehand, so that when I allow myself to rest, I can truly enjoy it & get rested! I’m not worrying about all the things I *should* be doing, because rest IS what I should be doing! It’s on my daily schedule, after all!
Feel like there’s no time in your day to plan a rest period? I’d like to suggest that you don’t have time NOT to rest. Here are a few ideas to incorporate rest time into your busy day:
- Use your lunch break to read, listen to a podcast, or talk to an encouraging friend.
- Nap when the kids are napping. If you can’t get them all to nap together, put on a show that will hold their attention for 30 minutes, and crash on the couch with one eye open.
- Go to bed just 30 minutes earlier than normal, and spend that time journaling or reading a good book. Don’t turn on the TV!
2. Incorporate the things you love.
Rest doesn’t necessarily mean taking a nap, although some days that’s exactly what I need! Rest can be anything that refuels you and gives your brain a break from the stresses of your daily life.
I also find that if I’m excited about what I’m doing during rest time, I’m more likely to make the time for it. For me, that meant switching out my non-fiction books for some fun fiction. I still read non-fiction a lot, just not during rest time. Fiction is much easier for me to relax and enjoy, and I always look forward to continuing a story I’ve been sucked into!
And then some days, I really can’t get excited about anything other than a nap. So, a nap it is!
3. Establish routines that work.
The very best thing I’ve found to help with prioritizing rest in my daily schedule, is creating and sticking with a couple of basic routines each day.
I’ve written about my morning routine before, but I’ve also been working on establishing my evening routine lately. Honestly, if my evenings aren’t in order, there’s no way I’m getting up in the morning in time to really make my morning routine happen. I’ve stuck with these basic routines for a few weeks, with a few tweaks here and there, they have proven to work really well for our family.
Right now, my routines are as follows:
MORNINGS
- Quiet Time (Rest for me!)
- Workout
- Shower
- Make Tea (Rest!)
- Unload Dishwasher
EVENINGS
- Tidy Kitchen and Living Room
- Start Dishwasher
- Start 1 Load of Laundry
- Brush Teeth
- Read (Rest!)
Simple, right? I’ve set routines before, but only maintained them for a couple of days at a time. This time, working through each step of the courses has helped me to actually STICK with these routines. And sticking with the routines gives me MORE TIME throughout the rest of the day, because I’ve started and ended my days with rest.
Believe me, it’s much wiser to plan for rest instead of be forced into it because you’re completely burned out. I’ve learned that the hard way!
It’s possible to prioritize rest, even in a busy season. Although it often feels like we just don’t have the time, the truth is that resting makes us more patient, more effective, and more productive!
Your turn! How do you make time for rest, even when life gets busy?
P.S. If you’d like to establish a doable morning routine of your own, I’d love to invite you to take our free Morning Routine Mini-Course! Sign up here!
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Kayse Pratt serves Christian women as a writer + designer, creating home + life management resources that help those women plan their days around what matters most. She’s created the most unique planner on the market, helped over 400 women create custom home management plans, and works with hundreds of women each month inside her membership, teaching them how to plan their days around what matters most. When she’s not designing printables or writing essays, you’ll find Kayse homeschooling her kids, reading a cheesy novel with a giant cup of tea in hand, or watching an old show from the 90’s with her husband, who is her very best friend.
I’ll admit I try to plan and be organized, but never seems to work. I recently turned 34 and other then when I’m seriously sick, I can’t seem to rest. Even If I’m just sitting at my computer not doing homework, doing homework, working (I have 2 jobs during school terms), my mind is still going miles a minute. I’m up for hours no matter how tired and stress over things that I really shouldn’t stress about. I’ve nearly died twice in my life and my health isn’t getting any better.
Guess my comment would be how does a try-be-planner actually follow planning and schedules, include rest times without felling stressed….
As a special education teacher, it’s taken me *five* years to learn the idea of rest. (Bible studies by Lysa TerKuerst have really helped remind me about resting and imperfect progress).
This year, I approached my career a little differently. I stopped at a decent time. During the beginning of the school year when my daughter was kept late after school for marching band practice, I stayed at school until 5. After Christmas, she no longer had practice, so I (tried) to leave school by 3:30. (Not having a driving teenager helped because I had to pick her up after school).
At home, I’ve started to unplug a lot more. I don’t spend near as much time on social media (I prefer reading email and blogs – like this one – anyway). For me, social media was noisy and sewing a lot of discontent in my heart. So I stepped away.
I read a lot more. I do watch TV, but because we stream, it’s on demand so I don’t have to be a slave to “my shows”. I also have older children 0 a 20-year-old son and a 16-year-old daughter. So my season of life is different than probably many of yours. To which I say – the season you’re in will not last forever. One day, it will be gone. And you might be sad. But you’ll also be glad (first to have survived it, second to see what your children have become and third to enjoy another chapter in your life).
I once read an essay entitled “recognizing burnout before you’re charred.” The reason this essay of yours, Kayse, is so profound is because as Mamas we so often push ourselves so long, so hard, out of habit, necessity, or mistaken senses of pride in our lives–we don’t even realize it until it’s too late and we are having crying jags, snapping at everyone , or worse–making time for daily, intentional rest is totally the answer. An ounce of prevention, etc.! Because, as you know, sometimes life does call on us to face superhuman challenges–like your sudden move, or a hospitalized child, a serious trauma of any kind, and they come at every stage of life–our inner strength is worth preserving. When you really think about it, it could be one of our most important responsibilities as mothers. Your planner has really helped me with that little, innocuous box entitled “rest.”
I have a “hard stop at 1:00 Thursdays” ritual where my homeschooled children know that I get to take a bath. I protect that time fiercely – even if there are 100 things on my list, I get that hour to read a book and not worry about it.
Making time for rest is so difficult while my children are young and need my constant attention. Many times, I resort to letting them watch something on Netflix just so I can relax and have some quiet time. I too love my quiet times in the morning when I wake up before my kids 🙂