Looks so comfy... ... zzzz.
Rest is one of your greatest resources when it comes to writing and blogging.
Not lazy rest but good old fashioned healthy rest.We all are different and need different and varying amounts of rest but at the end of the day it’s all the same: Get some rejuvenating rest for your writing efforts!
I have found that my writing literally shrivels up if I don’t have enough rest and if I try to write while tired or exhausted it’s like pulling teeth.
Make sure to get some healthy rest this week so that your writing efforts are in their best shape possible!
But doesn’t always have to be sleep; it could be some other activity that provides that “rest” that you need. For me the following are true:
- Reading a good book provides me rest.
- Taking a short stroll provides me some rest.
- Having a great conversation gives me rest.
- Eating a brilliantly-tasting snack (or meal) gives me rest.
- Watching a very light-hearted movie can provide me rest.
What about you?
I think of rest as turning my brain off, kind of how you indicated. I love to just get down with a mind-numbing action flick or comedy that won’t challenge my brain like writing and teaching does.
i love that too!
I’ve actually that while traveling on the bus into class or driving my car that is good enough rest for me. But sleep surely does help. Not too much though.
not too much!
Reading and exercise are always my go-to choices for getting rest.
Point of contention with one sentence, though (sorry to be picky), how does your writing “literally” shrivel up, John?
my spirit does, for sure.
hmmmm…
haha.
This is good advice: thank you. So many people are constantly “on” and busy, busy, busy. No wonder we burn out. It really helps to be reminded to take a break and refresh.
Rejigging your routines can also help. I’m experimenting with getting up early to get my creative stuff done when I’m more alert and feeling fresh after sleep. I can rest later in the day knowing that I’ve achieved a fair bit at the start. That’s the theory, anyway. It’s early days. Yaaawwwn ….
getting up early can REALLY change your perspective!
How ironic that I read this after a very lousy night of sleep with a sick child! Oh well, I guess I won’t do a very substantial amount of writing today!
Me too.
And to the post…amen.
take it easy!
Sure wish I had more rest last night. Our dog was acting very goofy and came on the bed but wouldn’t settle down. She just kept moving from on place to another, on top of me! Right by my face. I think she was trying to get me to leave. Our power went off and My husband thought it was time to get up when he looked at the clock–didn’t realize it was the wrong time so he’s up showering at 2:40 a.m. I got up at 2:30 to replug in the computer so I could logoff Twitter and Facebook which I was in when our power went off.
OMG. that is hilarious!
Ahhh… a good 8 hours of sleep! Nothing beats it. Oh, and a nap on Sunday afternoon.
I have also discovered that while doing my Bible study, if I allow time to chase some rabbits I find out really interesting stuff and that gives me rest. Like this morning I had totally forgotten that Saul’s son Ishobeth reigned for two years over Israel before his head was brought to David. How do you work that into a conversation?
I just did!
now i’ll be thinking about talking heads all night long… thanks!
Not to rub it in for those who had a terrible nights sleep lastnight, but I actually got some MAJOR rest last night. It was one of those nights where you just crash out, forgetting to take out your contacts or even brush your teeth because you just laid down and knocked out, kinda nights. I felt GREAT when I woke up (nearly 10hrs later). Crazy right?
I also enjoy popping in a movie, or sometimes even graphic design can give me mental rest.
what types of movies?
Pastor/Author Wayne Cordeiro pointed out that it’s even *when* you sleep that matters. Between the hours of 11pm & 3am is when the deepest sleep occurs. I can sleep all day – but it’s not the sleep I need.
And you’re right: there’s nothing like rest, in all its forms, to rev us up. Thanks, John!
LY
sure thing larry!
I agree the list you provided that rest us except very first item. I read books or magazines for two reasons. First is to absorb the content which I can use later for my courses or work. The other is that I enjoy the reading. The first case is really a work for me. In the second case, I usually end up addicted to the book and mess up my daily schedule until I finished reading that book.
ah, to each his own!
Agreed. Sometimes eating helps too.
seriously. icecream.
This is true even a 30 minute work out helps too.
for serious!
Absolutely agreed! For success in all areas of life we need to re-energize. Playing Lego’s with my kids is a great one and one of my guiltiest pleasures is watching Jersey Shore. I know, I know…I can’t help it!
man… legos! technic!
I agree with you as I am a man in the preaching business and blog sermons…
Blogging and constructing sermons involve a lot of thinking… Brainstorming without resting is like braking yourself into tiny pieces…
yikes!
By the way you are the only blogger I have seen blogging about rest
The other day I watched a video in WordPress.TV and I heard the speaker Andrew Nacin saying, “I sleep only one hour for a week”…
I felt like saying “God bless your soul brother!!!”
It’s sad to see still some people thinking that the guy who works without resting is the tough guy…
agreed. 100%!
Well, I hope you realized it was a joke.
I get plenty of rest, just perhaps on a less regular schedule, thanks to both the demands and liberties of my job. Makes for good visualizations.
Great point, John. My best rest can come from lots of places, like you said. Key is not to force your writing. And without rest, it feels forced. Thanks!
sure thing evan!
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