Organize Your Life Day 8: Rest

Although many stages of parenthood may test our physical limits of exhaustion, the more we value rest and rejuvenation, the better parents we can actually become.

Welcome to Organize Your Life Day 8: Rest.

This is part of a mini-series on overcoming parenting (and life!) overwhelm and stress by organizing your life. Click here to see the introduction and links to other days.

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I remember being so tired when my first child was a newborn that there were times I could not even function. Some nights I completely lost coherence. When my baby cried, I couldn’t remember if I had just finished nursing her and now she might need to burp, or if she was just waking up and it was time to feed her.

However, there’s something funny about us parents. (At least about me as a parent.) Even if we are exhausted, sometimes we don’t take advantage of the opportunities we have to sleep or rest. Maybe we feel guilty for sleeping or maybe we believe this moment will be the only opportunity to get a project finished up. For whatever reason, when it gets down to it, our own rest isn’t truly that important to us.

It may sound too simple, but the one thing you must do to get more rest as a busy parent is prioritize your own sleep and rest. And there are a lot of reasons you should do that.

The Value of Rest

Most athletes will tell you, especially elite ones, that rest and recovery are built into their training programs. These recovery periods allow the body to replenish its energy stores, remove detrimental by-products of intense exercise, and repair damaged body tissue. An athlete with adequate rest will perform at a higher level.

Similarly, when the digestive system has intermittent breaks, the benefits are far reaching. Some studies have shown that periodic fasting has benefits such as reduced stress, improved brain function, and increased life span.

Then there is the epitome of rest: sleep. Sleep deprivation decreases our stress management skills and brain function. It inhibits our ability to correctly read other people’s emotions and react calmly to conflict. Lost sleep also decreases immune function.

While this is only the beginning of the studied benefits, I hope we are convinced of the value of adequate rest in all facets of our life.

When we take the time to rest it is rejuvenating. We will make up for that time in increased productivity, improved mood and mindset, and better health. All of these are important for us to be the parents we really want to be.

Pull out your Workbook or journal. Open to Day 8: Rest. Answer the question, “How important is rest for you and why?” You can include some of the benefits listed above, but also consider your own experience. Write about specific positive or negative consequences resulting from times when you have or have not gotten adequate rest.

Weekly Rest

Choosing to prioritize daily sleep will have far-reaching positive effects for us and our families.

There is another kind of rest which our family has also found extremely beneficial. We observe a weekly day of rest for religious reasons. As we have chosen to do so, we have seen how much good it does for our family.

On this day of rejuvenation, we take a break from work, sports activities, and shopping. There is no reminding the kids to do homework, complete helper jobs, or practice the piano. It is amazing!

More important than what we don’t do, however, is what that free day allows us to do. Remember those rocks from Day 3? Those things that are actually most important in our lives? Having a day of rest set apart gives us time to focus more fully on those activities that bring real joy and fulfillment into our lives.

We spend time together as a family. We grow closer to our God. Often, we try to serve others by visiting the nursing home or writing letters. We read and play games and might even take an afternoon nap. The day may not always run perfectly. We still have our moments of arguing. However, it has become a day I treasure every week.

Turn back to Day 3 in your Workbook and review your starred items that you decided were most important to you. Evaluate how those might benefit from a day set apart as different than the remainder of the week.

If you don’t currently have a weekly day of rest, I encourage you to honestly consider scheduling one. The value of a weekly day or rest far outweighs the extra effort on other days to make it a reality.

Making Sleep and Rest Happen

Remember that sleep-deprived mother (me) of a newborn in the opening paragraph? Sometimes that is reality. There are stages when try as we might, that sleep eight hours a night thing is just not happening.

However, as with most parenting and life challenges, “This too shall pass.”

I believe sleep is a learned skill, and eventually, we can teach our children to sleep through the night. If they see how we value sleep in our own lives as well, we are sending them a powerful message. Do the best you can and hang in there!

Beyond that nighttime battle though, you may have (as I did) some engrained habits or sleep beliefs to overcome. I didn’t really value sleep as I should have for a long time. I would often think, “I’ll make it up later.” Sleep was the first thing I sacrificed if my list of to-dos was too long. It’s a battle I still have to remind myself to fight on occasion.

My suggestion if you have a hard time prioritizing sleep is to run an experiment. Decide for two weeks that you are going to get adequate rest every single night no matter what. Set a bedtime alarm and when it goes off, drop what you are doing and get in bed. Many things we think are important in the moment really can wait. Make sleep your first priority for those two weeks. Afterward, evaluate how you feel and how you were able to function.

Adjusting Your Schedule

On Day 3 we determined to take complete ownership of our time. Accordingly, we are going to consciously decide how much time we want to give to sleep and rest. Recreation is probably already in your Weekly Block Schedule, which some people consider rest time. Decide what rest looks like for you.

Flip back to Day 8 in your Workbook. Answer the following two questions.

1.) How will you include rest in your daily schedule?

2.) How will you build rest into your weekly schedule?

Update or adjust your Weekly Block Schedule according to any desired changes to include rest. Write any thoughts, take-aways, or future action items for Day 8.

As you get adequate rest in your life, you will have more physical and emotional stores to help you through your parenting challenges. You will feel less stressed and overwhelmed and better able to focus on the Littles in your life. This is my hope for you and your family!

Yesterday, we reached the half-way point of Organize Your Life, and you’ve done some great work so far. In fact, that is why I scheduled rest for Day 8. We’ve been at this for a week now, and it’s time for a break. Use the remainder of your hour to rest. 🙂

Do you have a hard time prioritizing sleep or is that just me? What other challenges do you face in getting adequate rest? Please share in the comments.

There’s no break tomorrow. We are back to the doing with Organize Your Life Day 9: Organize Your Space.