Raise your hand if you need a holiday after your holiday. 🙋🏻‍♀️

Our family just spent a week in Montreal visiting my partner’s family. 

It was an amazing trip and I’m so grateful to his family for hosting us. We had an incredible time and we’re looking forward to when we get to go again. 

BUT I’ve travelled a LOT (45 countries and counting!), and 8 days in Montreal with an 18-month-old and a 7-year-old exhausted me more than any other holiday! 

We were on the go all the time—there was so much to take in and do! Our toddler was toddling everywhere—he experienced so many things he’d never seen or done before. 

We arrived home late last Saturday. I woke up with severe allergies (thanks, mould!) and really struggled to do anything on Sunday and Monday. 

So I didn’t. 

I gave myself permission to take a day off and rest (consider this your permission slip to do the same).

My partner went to work. My stepson was with his mama. My son went to my parents. And I crashed on the couch watching the Olympics and napping. 

I nourished myself with healthy food (so many blueberries! And our raspberries were ready to be picked!).

I worked out with weights and went for a long bike ride by myself. 

It was glorious. 😊

And it was exactly what I needed.

By Tuesday I felt much better and was ready to return to work.

It wasn’t that long ago that I would have gone straight back to work Monday morning, exhausted, allergic to the world, and not in the right mindset to do anything. 

Rest was a 4 letter word that I didn’t use. 

How can you rest when there are so many things to check off on the to-do list? How can you rest when there’s work to do, plus housekeeping, yardwork, groceries, and kids to look after?

Who needs to rest? I certainly didn’t. 

Until the universe made me. 

5 years ago I had the most amazing summer. It started with an 11-day trip to Newfoundland, Canada’s easternmost province—lots of driving, camping, and hiking. 

Then, for my 40th birthday, I wanted to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak. But before I did that I travelled through South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia for 3 weeks. Then my ex joined me and we summited Kili before doing a safari in Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

It was a whirlwind travel adventure, my best to date, and I came home a few days before school started for the fall. I quickly jumped into all my usual coaching activities: x-country running, soccer, and volleyball. On top of that, September is one of the busiest months for teachers and it was go-go-go from the moment I got back home. 

Right before Thanksgiving weekend (the second weekend in October for us Canadians), I nearly passed out from pain while teaching Foods to a group of grade 7’s. 

My principal drove me to the medical clinic where the doctor sent me for an ultrasound and discovered a ruptured ovarian cyst.  

The ruptured cyst was one of the most painful experiences I’ve ever had. It literally stopped me in my tracks and forced me to take a few days' rest.  

In retrospect, I knew I was pushing myself too hard personally and professionally. I was emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually exhausted. This was how my body decided to tell me that I should slow down, that I shouldn’t feel I have to do everything, and that I should REST. 

I had always felt guilty taking rest days. In my 20’s I worked out hard EVERY day despite knowing that rest days helped your muscles recover and get stronger. In my 30’s rest days meant I walked instead of ran or did yoga instead of weights, but I was still active every day. 

Professionally there were always lessons to create, school work to assess, meetings to attend… I’d always worked evenings and weekends—it was part of teaching. 

But after the severe pain of a ruptured ovarian cyst, I decided it wasn’t worth it. My health wasn’t worth it. So I prioritised my health more by slowing down and including more rest.  

Rest (and sleep!) is a wellness cornerstone.

Rest includes all the things you do to release stress:

Rest calms your body and powers down your mind.

Rest is intentionally slowing down. 

Sometimes you get so focused on the GO-GO-GO that you forget your body and mind need rest to recover to be at your best. 

When was the last time you slowed down and took an intentional rest day? 

Rest feeds your soul and soothes your mind and body. 

Quiet, solitary activities are best as they can trigger a flow state, which is deeply healing for the mind. Activities like the ones mentioned above are great, but so are other things that allow you to get into the flow: solo hobbies like gardening, woodworking, needlepoint, and breadmaking can do the trick as well. 

What activities allow you to forget everything else and zone out? 

If you haven’t found one yet, it’s a good time to experiment. You might learn something new about yourself—I discovered I can lose track of time while weeding the garden, or doing the dishes. 

If you struggle to rest, as many high-achieving perfectionists do (this is definitely me!), here are some guidelines to help you make more time for rest: 

• Give yourself permission to care for your body, mind, heart, and spirit. Self-care is more than bubble baths, pedicures, and deep-tissue massages (as wonderful as they are 😉). 

• Practice self-care—give your body the rest, sleep, movement, and nourishing food it needs. For how to simplify self-care and create a practice that works for you, check out this article.

• Reprioritize other commitments to make time for rest.

• Block it into your calendar like any other priority as without rest you won’t be able to perform your best.

• Find solitary activities that bring you joy (reading, playing an instrument, gardening, cooking, baking, crafting….).

• Notice what gets you into FLOW and do more of that.

• Turn routines into rituals (how could you create more of a ritual around a mealtime, or around bedtime?).

• Notice nature and take time to connect with the earth. Spending time outside has many benefits for your mind, body, heart, and spirit.

• Be mindful during daily activities (for example, at meal times).

•  Be present when you are with others.

Rest didn’t come easy for me, and I still have to remind myself that it’s important. When you know and understand that your body, mind, heart, and spirit need rest to recharge, reset, and refresh, it’s much easier to take a break and not feel guilty.  

I also know that there are times during my cycle I need more rest and instead of pushing through like I used to, I listen to my body and slow down. I know there are other times when I have the energy to push and that’s when I’ll schedule more important tasks if I can. 

Figuring out what you need to thrive takes a bit of experimentation and lots of practice. Keeping an open mind and being curious will help you as you work on creating wellness practices that work best for you, your lifestyle, and your personality. 

Burnout to Bliss helps you feel less guilty practicing the self-care you need by working with you to create sustainable practices that will support you in feeling your best so that you can live a life you love. Find out more here.