Do you find it hard to rest? If so, you aren’t alone! A few years ago, the University of Durham conducted the world’s largest survey around rest and wellbeing. They polled over 18 000 people from 134 countries around the world, discovering over ⅔ of those surveyed all acknowledged they need to rest more.
Why is resting so hard?
Society, for a long time, applauded busy – it was a badge of honour…a default answer to sum up our state of being. Why do you think that is?
Perhaps it defines our importance – our sense of worth? Perhaps it’s a reflection of our lack of boundaries, or inability to say no? Maybe the busyness is because we are trying to keep up with everyone else? We don’t want anyone to see us as inefficient, or wasteful. Perhaps we worry about what we might miss out on – maybe we are just trying to prove to ourselves – and others, we are enough. Maybe we view resting as lazy – a sign of weakness?
Perhaps we choose to be busy because it is offers us an opportunity to not think about what is going on in our lives – a habit of survival? Brene Brown suggests busyness may be a form of armour:
“‘Crazy-busy’ is a great armor, it’s a great way for numbing. What a lot of us do is that we stay so busy, and so out in front of our life, that the truth of how we’re feeling and what we really need can’t catch up with us.”
Ultimately being busy is a decision. It’s a decision we make: choosing one thing, over another.
If you had permission to choose rest over doing, would you?
We’re exploring this very topic in our upcoming Masterclass and we invite you to join us on Monday 26th July (4-6pm BST) Sign up here to join our Permission to Rest masterclass with expert Gib Bulloch AND receive a collection of provocations, poetry and ponderings around rest and our relationship to this elusive beast…everyone is welcome.
Gib is a speaker, writer and facilitator with a unique perspective on the relationship between business, society and the self.
