I want to talk about something I was finally able to articulate & internalize today about how we use & communicate the idea of “rest” as it applies to self-care & mental health...

(1/11)

Whenever I see the importance & need to “rest” in conversations about mental health with providers or advocates or even here on social media in quipped graphics, I believe it is either stated or implied or commonly accepted to mean physical rest

(2/11)

WHICH IS VERY IMPORTANT, DON’T GET ME WRONG. Not the point of this thread to say it’s not.

But as someone who could sleep until the end of days or who would love to be lichen on a boulder for the rest of time & is also a Type A Virgo, this never resonated with me

(3/11)

Of course we need rest, but taking a nap or being a bum on the couch didn’t feel like what it addressed my particular issues, which include constantly feeling like I have so much to do and not enough time to do it. Never feeling like I’m doing what I need or want to do

(4/11)

But it was frustrating to me (again, a Virgo) to not be able to articulate why that was without just sounding like someone who just wanted to try to get back to that infinite To Do List

Until today (5/11)

Two conversations I had two helped me to realize & internalize that the “rest” I (& maybe you) need isn’t actual physical rest...

It’s a rest from self-judgment.

(6/11)

It’s probably no shock to say I have big issues with self-criticism & self-judgment, which I’ve been aware of for a while. The idea of just not being like this would be like giving up smoking cold turkey - nigh impossible.

But a break?

(7/11)

Using awareness to take a break for just one night of not judging myself for what I choose to do that night is so much more restful than taking a nap or watching TV instead of trying to get chores done or writing for an hour.

(8/11)

It’s not about what I *choose* to do with my time, it’s about freeing myself from judging myself for those choices or doing what I feel like I “should” be doing.

That is the rest I’ve been trying to hard to explain that I need.

(9/11)

Now of course comes the hard work of actually TRYING to get myself to do this and to practice and build this muscle.

See the point above about me being a Type A Virgo and pray for me

(10/11)

Anyway, I just wanted to tell anyone else who may need to hear it -

It’s okay if you don’t feel like you need to physically rest. But if you’re feeling constantly stressed & harried, ask yourself if you need to rest from your own self-judgment

(11/11)

Again, I just very much wanted to articulate this point about how “rest” can mean different things bc while obviously I’ve been told I should relax & chill with the self-criticism, it has never been posed to me before as “rest”

Posing it as “rest” makes it feel more achievable because it’s temporary. I only have to focus on cooling it with the deeply ingrained self-criticism for a night, not forever.