When I hear people talk about rest, the first thing I think of is not, like, a vacation or a quiet cup of tea. The first thing I think of is sleep. Probably the first sixteen things I think of are sleep.
How wrong would it REALLY be to sleep at the library while the kids check out books? Is there a magic potion anywhere around here that would stop time while I take an afternoon nap? Would it be possible to sleep while also making dinner? (I have six kids, you guys. The last time I slept through the night was sometime in 1999.)
But there’s more to rest than sleep. I guess.
And I’m sharing one of my tricks for getting rest-not-just-sleep over at Simple Homeschool.
Where do you find rest?
The most important thing for keeping our family sane is REST.
By “rest” I do mean sleep, but I also just mean reserving some time for being unproductive on purpose.
Without rest, the kids get overwhelmed and easily distracted. (P.S. – If everything feels overwhelming at your house, too, let’s get you a free Get Out of Overwhelm Survival Kit.) Without rest, all our tempers get a little short. We end up bickering about nothing and everything. Without rest, I turn into a cranky mama-robot of doom, cycling joylessly through chores and tasks and appointments. (Just me?)
So rest is important.
Rest is also hard. I continue to be terrible at it, even with lots of practice. The best solution I’ve found is to build regular times of rest into our schedule, whether I think we’re going to need them or not. (We will. We will need them.)
Come read the whole story over at Simple Homeschool. You don’t have to homeschool your kids to be invited. If you’re a person who needs to work rest in for your family, this is for you.
