A Week to Recover
It was a slow week for me at work – it wasn’t as overwhelming as opposed to the week before.
While “slow” can be good (at times), I was a little bored due to the lack of stress – no tight deadlines to meet.
BUT this doesn’t mean I seek stress to be challenged.
In fact, I needed that week to be slow (despite the small dose of boredom). Otherwise, I would’ve been burned out.
Rest is key to improvement (known as “cheat day” to most people). It’s the time to recover from whatever form of improvement you’re dealing with: stronger muscles, healthier diet, crafting willpower, discipline or any other form of increased tolerance over temptations that don’t benefit you (sugar, social media, gossip, greed, anger, etc.).
Like elastics, you’ll break if you stretch yourself too far. But when you stretch yourself as close to your breaking point as possible – recover – then stretch yourself once more (but just a little further this time), and then repeat the cycle a few more times, you eventual create a “new” normal – a better “normal”. It’s that point when what you considered to be “hard” becomes “easy”.
A very recent example would be my go-kart record this weekend.
Yes yes yes. I know. I constantly stayed in the bottom. But that’s not the point 😉
I constantly got better over time.
4 consecutive races in total.
10 laps in each race.
That’s a total of 40 laps in a span of an hour.
What used to be unfamiliar became more familiar. Cliche I know but…
I somehow learned when to speed up or when to slow down the racetrack.
It was fun…but I was tired after the first 2 races.
I was exhausted after 4.
That’s how I was this weekend…
Exhausted
A friend of mine is in town for his brother’s bachelor party. He dragged me along with him – ax throwing, go-kart, and Hooters.
I enjoyed it. However, I couldn’t keep up with everyone else’s level of energy. I feel bad for not showing the same enthusiasm but I hope they understand.
I’ve got too many things happening this weekend that I failed to manage my time wisely. I was constantly late – a habit I want to avoid.
Looking back, I’m glad I had a slow week at work because I didn’t realize how busy my weekend would be – they balanced each other out.
Going out and doing things should be relaxing but it can also be tiring.
I remember when I used to have a list of things to do when I travel. In most cases, I couldn’t do all of them because I just don’t have enough energy (perhaps I’m that weak).
So now I always add a “recovery period” between activities and also between vacation and work.
I needed to do that because I hate going back to work tired. I wanna go back fully energized. Which is why I value and appreciate my…
Sunday
Church Day. Rest Day. Family Day. Lazy Day. Pick-up Grocery Day. Laundry Day. Vacuum Day. Yea it comes in many forms. It is the day I use to recover and to prep myself for the upcoming week.
I value it so much that I try to keep my Sunday blocked out as much as possible. Why?
If I don’t get enough rest, the rest of my week will also suffer.
The “tiredness” will be carried over for the next few days which puts me in a constant state of “zero-to-low focus” – always distracted.
You can’t expect someone to function to their full potential when they’re tired. You can’t expect your body to digest all the junk you’ve been eating if you don’t give it the rest it needed to function properly. That is why I keep telling everyone how important sleep is – how important “rest” is.
Getting a good quality sleep for at least 7 continuous hours is my goal this quarter. It’s not an easy thing to do but it’s also not impossible.
Rest is NOT…
- the opposite of productivity – it is PART of productivity.
- being lazy – it’s the smart way of dealing with burnout.
- optional – it’s essential.
But resting (almost all the time) makes us feel unproductive.
We (almost all the time) fail to realize how much our productivity goes down due to unnecessary burnouts.
Tell me, are you getting enough rest?
Or are you so super busy that you don’t have time to rest?