Several years ago when I was an editor at Natural Home magazine, we featured a concept that really stuck with me: a day of rest. I love the idea and have revisited it many times. Of course, this is far from a new concept. A day of rest is a component of almost all major world religions, one people have followed for thousands of years. That said, among religious and nonreligious people alike, it’s a habit that has, for most of us, fallen by the wayside.
Today, people spend more time working after hours than at any other time in modern history. We’re able to respond to work emails in bed at midnight, on the playground on Sunday afternoon, in the car at a stoplight. Even if we’re not working 24/7, we’re constantly connected to news of world events and politics, our friends’ activities, advertisements, click-bait and more. Many people believe crime is rising despite the fact that violent crime rates are at an all-time low; that’s probably because we can hear about crimes no matter where they happen in the world. All of this connectedness can make the world feel overwhelming. And it requires more conscious effort than ever to actually stop and rest.
Over the years, I’ve instituted the day of rest concept with varying degrees of strictness and success. I’m not generally one for imposing strict “rules” for living, but I found that a few guidelines helped make it happen—sometimes following rules, even for a short time, can be the quickest way to habitualize. One rule I enjoy is to take a break from technology. I might watch a movie with my family, but I won’t look at my email—work or personal—or engage in any kind of social media. It took some effort to switch off the automatic impulse to glance at Facebook on my phone, but I really felt the difference in turning inward and taking a break from the outside world.
If you want to try it, your day of rest could take many forms. Of course if you are religious and want to observe or refresh an adherence to your religion’s traditional day of rest, that’s a great way to engage with this concept. For the nonreligious, you can choose your day to rest. For many of us working the standard workweek, Sunday is the ideal day, but if you work a different schedule, your day of rest might be Tuesday or Friday—whenever you will be able to determine your own schedule for the day.
Maybe you want to take a total break from technology on your day of rest. Maybe on your day of rest, you want to stay in your pajamas all day and veg out in front of the TV. If so, I say do it! Perhaps you love cooking and want to devote your day of rest to opening a bottle of wine, turning on some music and cooking meals for the week. Maybe instead you want to ban any and all household chores from your day of rest. Do what feels right to you.
Along with do-nots, you might also make a list of dos for your day. Maybe you want to set aside time for yoga and meditation. Perhaps you want to start a new hobby, or maybe you want to spend more time in nature.
No matter what you choose to emphasize and what you choose to forgo, remember that we all have one life to live on this planet, and we owe it to
ourselves to spend at least some of that time caring for ourselves, doing what we love. The laundry will still be there on Monday, I promise.
