I have a complicated relationship with this card. On the one hand, when I pull it I often feel a full-body sense of relief. A sighing exhale. Finally, I think, permission to slow down and take it easy.

On the other hand, I often feel a "why now?" kind of resistance and frustration, because I was just gearing up to push harder, muscle through, and finally finally make progress on some long-held goals.

Also, I have pulled this card a lot (or so it seems to me) and so sometimes I wonder if it's a fluke. Should I shuffle the deck, and try again? Because, you see, I already rested a few months ago.

Typical of me, honestly, to view rest as an occasional luxury and not part of a constant cycle.

This Week's Card: Rest

As resistant as I tend to be to actually taking a rest, there are some things that I have learned, over time, to be true.

1. We don't rest enough

Sometimes this is because we don't have time, and sometimes it's that we've been taught, conditioned, over our lives that "not being productive" is one of the worst things we can do.

Whatever the reason, when I find myself with time to rest, I generally then face a strong urge to clean my house, or at the very least fold and put away the laundry. Take care of the bills sitting on my desk. Maybe prep dinner. And then by the time I have "earned" my rest to my own satisfaction, the time for resting has all been used up.

I'm left feeling exhausted, but weirdly proud. Look how much I got done!

It's like the only way I'm allowed to rest is if there is nothing at all on my to-do list. As you might imagine, that never happens.

2. We're not very good at resting

Not just you and me, but as a society, we often rest "inefficiently", shall we say. Seriously. last time you decided to stay home and rest, what did you do?

Me? I watched a few episodes of brainless T.V., read an emotionally devastating book (Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas), and spent more time than I'd care to admit on Instagram and Facebook, just scrolling and, as a result, feeling inadequate .

My body might have been resting, but my mind and my nervous system were having a full, somewhat stressful, day.

I'm not saying that the only way to really rest is in a sensory deprivation tank, but I do think it's telling that we fill up our "rest" time with all the various things we do.

Today, try a "rest stress" test

• Set a timer for 5 minutes (or 10, if you're an overachiever).
• For that 5 minutes, do nothing. Don't pick up your phone. Don't read a magazine. Don't turn on the radio, and for the love of all that is holy please don't put away your dishes. Just sit, or lay, down and do Nothing.
• At the end of 5 minutes, reflect on how you felt and what that was like (feel free to reply to this email and let me know how it went!)

If you didn't make it the whole 5 minutes, or you did make it but it felt deeply uncomfortable, you might need a more structured approach to rest in your life. This might look like

• a strict 3-step wind-down routine before bet
• a daily meditation or breath work practice
• a guided relaxation or Yoga Nidra audio

If you didn't even try the 5 minutes (and have no intention of doing so, thank you very much) it's time to bring out the big guns:

• Sign up for a weekly restorative yoga class. In person, if possible, but definitely one that happens at a specific time & that you pay for.

The extra accountability of being there in person, having your phone off, and having an enforced 60 minutes or so of rest is probably exactly what you need.

If you're struggling with finding the time to build rest in your schedule because you can't even build all the things you have to do in your schedule, hit reply right now. I'd love to get you set up for a FREE 15-minute activation session to get your time under your control.

It's not impossible. It just requires a few minutes of (you guessed it) slowing down. <3 Megan