I ran across a post on Instagram the other day that showcased the saying, “If you rest, you rust.” While I can always appreciate a great piece of alliteration, I just cannot get this phrase out of my mind. And not in a good way. This has got to be one of the worst things I have ever heard.
If you rest, you rust?!
No. no. no. You need rest. You need to breathe. You need to take a step back sometimes and calm yourself.
This world goes 67,000 miles per hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. (Literally. That’s how fast the Earth is traveling through outer space. Crazy, I know.) If you tried to match that, you would honestly wreck yourself. There’s this sense of urgency tied to everything in our lives and when you remove yourself from the situation, you’re able to realize that very few of those things actually require instantaneous reactions on our part. We get stuck in these fast paced lifestyles and forget that we’re not made to be running on full speed all the time. Because eventually, we’re going to crash, and crash hard.
I’m a big reader. Like big reader. And I especially love reading about this sort of topic. Honestly, any self-help books in general are my thing. So I thought I would share my favorite books on the topic and some I want to read! If you’ve read any of the books on my “to-read” list, please let me know what you thought of them!
- Chasing Slow: Courage to Journey Off the Beaten Path by Erin Loechner
- Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling
- Grace, Not Perfection: Embracing Simplicity, Celebrating Joy by Emily Ley
And those on my list:
- Simple Matters: Living with Less and Ending Up with More by Erin Boyle
- Simply Tuesday: Small-Moment Living in a Fast-Moving World by Emily P. Freeman
- Loving My Actual Life: An Experiment in Relishing What’s Right in Front of Me by Alexandra Kuykendall
So this week, especially with July 4th just around the corner, I encourage you to rest. Enjoy time spent with family, friends, or just yourself. Be cognizant of the time of your life that you are in and appreciate it! Stay just an extra minute at the beach to soak in its beauty. Hold that hug just a little while longer before leaving a friend. Take just a little bit bigger of a breath when you wake up in the morning. Rest.
