I always thought that I had this whole ‘rest’ thing nailed down. You know, go to bed early, turn off all distractions etc. Yeah, I’ve come to find that rest is really more about the mind than turning off external stimuli.
Rest truly begins in the mind. Calming your mind, slowing down and getting to a point where you are able to control your thoughts is where rest truly begins. I recently moved back to Africa and my body was pushed beyond the point of exhaustion. I literally slept for days on end and still woke up tired. Why was this happening?
Well, I never really switched off my mind. My body still reacted as thought I had a 5:30am wake up call for work – which compounded by jetlag had me up until 5:30am Kinshasa time when I would be ready to finally fall asleep! Additionally, I was still in moving mode. I was still thinking about boxes I left in Boston as well as my next steps and whether or not this move was what I needed to do this year.
I realized that I was stressed and stretched beyond capacity and I needed to change. I needed to actually rest. My body and mind were suffering due to my lack of rest and so I determined that it was time to finally stop and give myself the chance to fully and truly rest. So I began meditating again. I’ve talked about how important it is to meditate but like never before, I turned to meditation to get me fully rested – and I’ve never looked back!
What do I do to ensure that I am rested?
- Get into your comfiest pajamas.
- Light a scented candle or scented essential oils
- Open the Calm app and pick a meditation session or a bedtime story. Listen – I haven’t had anyone tell me a bedtime story in a long time and this app has both their instructors and celebrities like Kelly Rowland read you bedtime stories!
- Turn on a white noise machine or download Thunderspace and listen to rain sounds
- Turn off all the lights – and for good measure, add an eye mask to ensure complete darkness.
Voilà! You are ready for one restful night. The truth is this routine needs to be followed for a couple of weeks before you see a marked difference. It took me about two weeks to fully settle and feel rested when I woke up! The toughest part in all this is turning your mind off. This is where the bedtime story or meditation session helps. Listening to the sessions or stories distracts from your mind’s natural inclination to overthink and/or prepare for the next day.
Give it a try y’all and let me know if this routine works for you as it has me!
Download the Calm app here
