A good rest day ends in gratitude, a good night’s sleep, and an excitement to start again.
We all take breaks sooner or later. Some may be in the habit of taking breaks too often, while others may not rest enough. Entrepreneurs are known for their long hours and continuous work schedules. But for every story of burning the midnight oil for multiple weeks in a row comes a story of burnout. I believe this is why the 6 day work week has been fairly popular among the successful.
A day of rest seems to be ingrained into the human species. Its as if we feel compelled to take a day away from our normal routine to do something different. I have to wonder if even cavemen took a day to just lounge around after ~6 days of hunting and foraging. Most every religion has a day of rest built into its core beliefs, and religions go way back.
As someone learning their way through the world, and enjoying every minute of it, it can be a romantic idea to never take a day of rest. Why rest? There are so many tools out there and information sources that I can reach at any time. Why should I take a day off with all this access?
I live day to day. What I mean by that is I live in the way of fully experiencing every day, individually, by maximizing my time. Inevitably this turns into the names of the week not mattering anymore. There is something joyous about the feeling of accomplishing things on a day when most around you are taking the day off.
Through the mystic power of self-tracking over the course of months, I have found a pattern. Once every 5–7 days I naturally spend a day less focused on making decisions. I noticeably take some time to spare my mind from making too many decisions. I still find myself pursuing most of my productive habits, but decision intensive tasks go to the back burner.
This has evolved naturally for me, but I can’t help but wonder if it isn’t the cadence of human nature itself. Even in caveman days, once camp was set up and food had been gathered, we would surely be tired from the many survival decisions we had been making in the days prior. Scouting for a place to settle, hunting for food, avoiding dangers, and building up a place to safely rest.
Are our rest days anything but just days to relax the mind from making too many decisions? Decision fatigue is a popular topic these days, but it has always existed. The first line of defense against decision fatigue: habits. Habits allow us to achieve many productive things without being taxing on the mind. Whether its wearing the same few outfits, or sending a certain number of outreach emails we all have decision saving habits.
Inevitably there are times during our days where new decisions must be made. By keeping habits we reduce any fatigue generated by these decisions, but sooner or later assuming enough decisions are being made, our minds are yearning for a break.
In comes the second line of defense: the rest day.
The rest day is a natural way to ease our minds from the making of decisions. It gives us time to recharge, reconnect with our goals, and consider more deeply the decisions made previously. Taking time off has been known to produce some very creative works as well, since the mind is more free to think for itself.
A good rest day ends with the feeling of gratitude, a good night’s sleep, and an excitement to start again in the morning.
Today has been a good rest day, so I bid you a good night.
