The Importance of Rest and Recovery

Have you been making rest and recovery a priority?

I was coaching a client recently and they started talking about a long to-do list of tasks they wanted to accomplish. The original focus was to figure out which of these tasks was most important and how to accomplish all of them. As we were talking, it became apparent that what they really needed wasn’t to accomplish any of these tasks at all!

The task that needed to be accomplished was to take a break and recharge from an exhausting week. After this realization, they let out a sigh of relief and were actually excited to take a few days to just R-E-L-A-X.

One way to think about the importance of recharging is to think about your cell phone. After a long day of use, what do you do? You plug your phone in to charge its depleted battery. If you don’t plug it in, the battery will eventually reach zero and be unusable.

Your body and mind work in a similar fashion.

If you don’t prioritize resting and recharging yourself, you are going to crash sooner or later. In a society where it is the norm to “go, go, go” all the time, it is more important than ever to rest and recover.

A few of my favorite ways to recharge are:

- Being outside in nature (walking, kayaking, soaking up some morning sun, etc.)
- Doing yoga
- Turning off all electronics and reading a good fiction book
- Booking a deep-tissue massage
- Turning on some music and cooking myself a healthy meal

What are your go-to ways to recharge yourself and have you been creating enough time for them?