Learning to Rest

This month on the blog is “Follow through February!” Did you know 80% of people give up on their yearly goals by mid-February? Join me every week for posts and videos dedicated to helping you keep your 2019 goals on track!

Hey there everyone! I’m so excited to be back and writing after a month long hiatus. So, what have I been up to?

Essentially, January was one never-ending cold. I got a cold, then Dean got a cold, then Dean gave me his cold which was worse than my cold. Thankfully, I’m completely healthy again, ready to spend my weeknights doing a little more than laying under a heated blanket. (Shout out to heated blankets though, you are a lifesaver.) 

This month was hard in more ways than one. I wrapped up a big project at work, traveled home for 2 family birthdays, and sadly, lost a beloved college professor.

January is one of my favorite months of the year, full of new beginnings and cracking open brand new planners. It’s a perfect time to just start (See what I did there ?).  

Yet, starting off my year in true Lauren fashion really wasn’t in the cards and this was difficult for me to reconcile. I am not particularly good at resting. I like to keep busy, not in the loaded context that word has taken on, I genuinely enjoy my passions and the activities that fill my days. Normally, a bout of sickness wouldn’t have kept those activities on hold. I would have “sucked it up” and life would continue as usual; inevitably leading to exhaustion and crashing into a forced recovery. 

So, what changed my attitude towards rest? The mega-viral BuzzFeed article “How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation.” This incredible long-read by Anne Helen Petersen came out on January 5th and immediately dominated conversations amongst my group of friends. An email thread emerged, bouncing back-and-forth quotes that resonated most with each of us. Our interpretations of the article varied, but we had all been hit with the burnout at some point and this article made us feel seen.

Anne Helen articulated a set of emotional responses that are so familiar they became, as she wrote, “the background music” of my daily life. The idea that hit me the hardest is, “I’ve internalized the idea that I should be working all time.” In the words of Keanu:

I couldn’t believe that this was a common experience for what felt like every millennial on the internet. This article continued to make its rounds weeks later. As is evident by now, it has stuck with me. So, when I became ill in early January, preparing to kickstart my usual blog schedule, I made the conscious decision to rest and continued to make that decision everyday until I felt completely recovered. 

This experience of resting was not easy. I felt idle and bored. I got into a habit of rewatching episodes of the Bachelor which are barely worth watching one time. Most of all, I felt guilty. I was disappointed in myself for not keeping up my blogging and video schedule. Now as I write this, a full week into feeling like myself again, I can honestly say I am so grateful for the rest I gave my body. 

This is something I will need to continue to work on, burnout wasn’t unburned-out in a day (working quote). As I head in (my) January, I’ll use this experience to focus my priorities, be intentional about what’s most important to me, and listen to my body. It’s not a solution, but it’s definitely a start. 

This month on the blog is “Follow through February!” Did you know 80% of people give up on their yearly goals by mid-February? Join me every week for posts and videos dedicated to helping you keep your 2019 goals on track!