Take your time.

I recently decided that I would take one day off a month to have ZERO plans for the day. No obligations or tasks on a to-do list and no one to see. Well, there is ONE plan and that plan is to commit to rest and leisure without guilt.

If the plan is to rest and have leisure time, then by following the plan, guilt has no need to be in the picture. 

If guilt does come around, we might be starting to think thoughts like, “I shouldn’t be doing this” or “I could be doing more productive things” or “People will think I’m indulgent.” 

If caring for ourselves is a value we have, why do we feel guilty for honoring and expressing one of our values? If we value integrity, we usually don’t feel guilty honoring and expressing our integrity. We can treat rest and leisure time as values that we want to honor and express, without guilt.

For my plan of one day a month, within that free time, I could do WHATEVER I want. I could stay in bed until 10am, just dozing and resting. I could read for an hour after lunch. I could go for a walk to the ocean. I could walk to the park and sit in the sun for the afternoon. Things that I don’t usually have the leisure time to do.

And if a whole day for rest and leisure seems unrealistic, commit to small chunks of planned rest and leisure throughout the month. Maybe one weekend morning is for sleeping in. Maybe one Tuesday evening is for reading on the couch with hot tea for 45 minutes. One Friday night for a quiet night in instead of going out.  

Rest and leisure are ways of taking care of ourselves. Commit to rest and leisure without guilt. 

Your turn: Does committing to rest and leisure seem unrealistic to you? Why? What options might you not be giving yourself to take a well-deserved break? What reasons are you telling yourself that you don’t deserve rest and leisure in your day, week, or month? How might you request support for creating the space to have some rest and leisure for yourself?

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