How is your day’s rest? This is not a typo. I suggest taking a break every day. No, it doesn’t require retirement or a big vacation (although we know wellness travel can help). It’s about filling your cup.
Consider developing a rest routine. The world around us is changing so fast, forcing us to keep up. For some of us, this speed is unattainable. For others who maintain their energy naturally, you still need time to rejuvenate. If you stick to your breaks, you’ll be less likely to burn out. Then we start normalizing taking care of ourselves. yeah!
let’s talk about energy
When you’re looking to get that rejuvenated feeling back, start by understanding what you really need. When you understand your human design, it is like a shortcut to inner knowledge. We start with five prototypes:
- performer
- dynamo
- Manifestation Generator
- Projector
- reflector
Note that generators and display generators are shown in bold letters. This is because they are the only two types with sustainable energy sources. This means that Gina, a generator, can enjoy breakfasts, lunches and dinners with friends with all the excitement in the world. Meanwhile, Tessa (her best friend) is a reflector and only chooses one of these three options. This has nothing to do with introversion or extroversion. It’s about our unique dynamic blueprint.
Imagine Tessa having lunch with Gina and a few friends. She was happy to be out and about, excited and decided to have dinner together. In the meantime, she went to do things by herself. Now that she’s removed from Gina’s sustainable generator energy, Tessa has lost her motivation and can’t understand why she decided to agree to a dinner date. That’s because she absorbed her friend’s energy. This is not who she is naturally or how her own energy works.
My husband and I are projectors and live with a dynamo kid. I realized that if the three of us were in the living room and I needed a break, I would go to the bedroom by myself and close the door. This gives me space to be alone, rejuvenated, and ready to happily reunite with my family. Sometimes I’d be there for 10 minutes, sometimes for hours. The key is to understand what I need in that moment.
relaxing thoughts
Rest is different for each of us. Many times, when we need it most, we don’t know where to start. To combat this feeling, save it as a resource. Here are some ways I take a break:
- guided meditation
- Take a walk around the block (it doesn’t have to be too long – just a change of scenery and movement to keep the process going)
- Colors from my adult coloring book
- Watch 15-30 minutes of your favorite show
- Perform sun salutations on the yoga mat every 30 minutes
- nap
- Make yourself shut down your laptop before 5 p.m.
- Adult Overnight (lived with one of my daughters and worked at their place)
- Ten minutes of online window shopping
- Read whatever I’m reading this week
- Jump on Marco Polo and send a message to my loved ones
- Listen to the podcast (I Hear through the eyes of inspiration marvelous)
- transcendental meditation
- Choose something around me to observe. Then set a timer for three minutes to keep me focused. (This is also useful for eye exercises and anxiety relief.)
- Close your eyes and express gratitude for five minutes
If our daughter Love chose her break option, it might be to go for a run or listen to her favorite new artist while walking to CVS. David might take a nap or go for a drive. Respecting your own needs is most important.
Insider information
Note that this list does not include social media or games on my phone. I’ll let you in on a little creator’s secrets. Once I took both of these tasks out of my downtime, my creativity soared. Exhibit A: I wrote this blog post in the 10 minutes between client calls when I was inspired by an email I read. Soaring!
How will you fill your cup? Send me an email or DM me Instagram and tell me. I’d love to hear from you. Plus, I’m always looking for new ideas. You can drop me a line at jackie@InspiredJourneyConsulting.com.
A wonderful lesson I learned from studying Humanized design A metaphor for adjusting a cup. If our cup is empty, we have nothing to give. If our cup is full, it will eventually be half full or empty when we give. Instead, let’s aim to have our cup overflow into the saucer so we can give to others and And without losing ourselves in the process. For this, we need rest. Take good care of you!
