If you take a scroll through my social media accounts you will see them littered with pictures of me in all sorts of exciting and beautiful places. And lots of pictures of sunsets and my toes in the sand!

I have found that rest is part of the hustle. Not vacations. Rest.

I no longer take vacations where I come back and need a vacation from my vacation. This is due to the fact that my sons are all almost grown and I don’t have to spend days walking around Disney catering to a tiny person’s needs. But also because I have come to realize that if I don’t rest I can’t hustle.

Before my travel consisted of a chartered cruise in the Mediterranean, it consisted of a night away with my husband at the local Holiday Inn. Friday night was for romantic adventures with the man of my dreams, and Saturday was for sleeping until whenever my body woke up. I would put on a soundscape of waves and pretend I was on a boat.

Rest is not only achieved at hotels and on cruises. It’s achieved when you can move your mind away from worry and anxiety. Resting your mind is the hardest rest to achieve. We all know what it’s like to have anxiety keep us awake at night.

A few tricks I use are taking long and slow deep breaths. Breathe in for 5 secs and then back out for 5 seconds. Did you get a little light-headed? That’s because day to day you are depriving your brain of much-needed oxygen. When you take deep breaths it’s alike a renewal for your brain, which can cause us to feel light-headed.

After the deep breaths, I began to meditate on all the good things in my life. The smiles of my children, times when I have had my feet in the sand and the warmth of the sun on my face. Remember happy memories or moments of peace from the past.

While I am not anywhere near a ‘yogi’ I do occasionally go to a beginner’s class or practice with a youtube video. The feeling of rest at the end of the routine is always so refreshing to me that I find myself wondering why I don’t do it more often.

Rest is important for your body and your soul. The term “I’ll sleep when I’m dead”, is all fine and dandy until you realize you’ve become the living dead.

To be successful you must grind when it’s time to grind and rest when it’s time to rest.
When was the last time you truly rested?

Take time to rest. It’s actually harder than you think.