Taking a Rest Day

Taking a rest day is typically connected with exercise. After a few days of pushing hard in the gym we skip a day to let our bodies recover. But what if we took a rest day from something everyday? What if instead of fighting through the entire mundane repetitive to-do list, we allowed ourselves a rest day from things?

Hear me out because we are all doing something like this some days. Do you have a set day of the week for eating out, or a declared leftover night? That is taking a rest day from cooking; you have taken food prep off our list and given your brain a needed break in meal planning. 

Today I am giving myself a rest day from all household chores except dishes. I have done a lot of extra cleaning and laundry lately and I need a break so I am taking a rest day from cleaning tasks. During the time I would have been doing laundry I can sit outside reading while the weather is nice. 

When we take a rest day from exercising it is to let our bodies recover and rest; it is about respecting the boundaries of what we can do and not pushing ourselves to the point of breaking. If we allow ourselves that same latitude for mental tasks just think of how less stressed we could all be. I think that making the mental shift of “I don’t have time” or “I don’t want to” into “I can skip this task today so that I can better spend my mental energy on something that will fulfill a deeper need.”

Using this idea of prioritizing and giving myself the allowance for mental health to skip something has been a game changer. When I look at it as a mental health choice, I remove the feelings of guilt for not having done the chore.

I’ve also found that, like with a workout regimen, that pre-scheduling rest days is helpful. If i know that i only have one good weather day coming up, then that is a day i should rest from intensive chores and inside tasks so that i can enjoy the sunshine. If I have a day filled with errands and appointments, I don’t make dinner, I take a rest day for that and declare leftover night. 

I see taking rest days from our to-do list redundancies as self-care. It gives a part of our brains a chance to relax or to refocus on something that fills our souls and refreshes our spirit. Today, for me, that means skipping laundry, walking to the library, and then spending the afternoon sitting in the backyard reading. It is going to rain tomorrow, so the laundry can be done then.