Rest and Rejuvenation …

I think it is so utterly important to regularly take time out to rest.

As a real home body everyone who knows me knows that I absolutely love my home. However, when it comes to taking time off work and needing good quality rest, I don’t always manage this at home. Because there’s always that bit of cooking or washing up or gardening to tend to, or the mail that demands your attention as soon as it enters your home.

It’s never ending.

And so I make sure I get away during my breaks. It doesn’t have to be far away or expensive. But I think the act of releasing ourselves from the daily grind is vital to our ongoing wellbeing. At least I know it is for me.

Last week I went to Suffolk where I arrived at 8.30am on Easter Monday having been accompanied for the best part of the journey by a lot of rain. I headed straight for my favourite seafront establishment where I settled myself on a comfy settee to enjoy a hot breakfast along with a coffee. I relished the treat of intermittently looking out to sea and reading the newspaper.

I was thrilled to be on holiday, to have gotten away from it all and a little bit or even a lotter bit of rain was not going to dampen my spirits! Freedom and spontaneity had my name on!

I did decide it was the kind of weather that demanded a visit to the cinema to check out Peter Rabbit though. Aside from sharing the cinema with an army of very small but champion standard rustlers, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. And so wonderful not to be rushing straight out of the cinema to meet the needs of a pre-set schedule.

I had that most precious gift of all; unshackled time.

Returning to my favourite place from which to stare out to sea, I happily whiled away numerous hours relishing in the utter joy of being free to do nothing but well … be! It was heavenly. I read. I wrote. I captured ideas. I had visions. I ate a delicious Cajun salmon dinner that I hadn’t had to prepare. And I revelled in the delight of simply being alive.

During the next few days I did a lot of my favourite things. I ran along the beach at sunrise (the sun even put in an appearance from behind the clouds on two out of the three mornings), I started my day with the most enormous two course breakfast that was served to me at my B & B, I walked for miles along the sea front, I attempted to capture the beauty of my surroundings on camera, I caught up with a friend over dinner, I lazed on park benches relishing the first feel of the sun’s warmth on my face, I sat on grassy sea facing verges drinking tea from a flask (so middle aged and totally underrated), I got in to my pj’s and sea facing bed at 6pm, I drank copious amounts of tea and I read more newspapers than I’d usually manage in a month.

So overall, I managed to indulge in excessive amounts of eating, writing, walking, running, photography, reading, dreaming, sea gazing and simply being.

Gosh I love to get away.

It was utterly wonderful.

No work. No post. No email. No internet connection even. (My initial frustration about this quickly dissipated). No washing up. No housework. No gardening. No driving (I didn’t get back in the car from the moment I parked by my B & B to the moment I left. Such a treat.). No schedule. No commitments. No hassle.

The only exception was sleeping in a single bed. I always feel like I need to be half awake all night just so I don’t relax enough to roll over and out of bed. Not conducive to quality sleep. Never again will I make that particular mistake.

Following this four day coastal extravaganza, I returned via another part of the coast where the sun came out in full force bringing with it the masses. I’m not a fan of crowds so I was happy to start my drive home. And it felt equally good to get back.

I’d had the chance to step out of my ordinary daily life and in creating distance, the chance to view certain situations with a fresh lens. Meaning that I’ve returned home with a very different perspective on an important situation. It’s too easy when immersed in our lives to see them purely from the perspective of being within it. When stood at a distance, it is possible not only to observe the bigger picture but also to notice the same one from a different perspective.

Rest is so important.

We live in a society that fixates upon constant activity. Yet if we look to nature, we see that in the long term, more is produced following seasons of rest. If this is true of the land, how much truer for us humans?

Rest is vital.

To us all.

It may look different to each of us but if we eliminate it from our schedules we do so at our own risk. For far from leaving us to fall behind, a good rest can enable us to move forwards.