Day of Rest.
One of the things I started instituting in January is a Day of Rest.
The idea was inspired by my friend Jess, who started doing them a couple years ago and impressed me with her commitment to them: A Day of Rest for her was literally and totally a Day of Rest…she didn't go out with friends, she didn't make plans, and I don't even think she went online.
I know, right? HOW RADICAL, to cut off your life from the internet for even a day! To know a friend of the Amish…'tis wider, the world view.
Anyway. *My* Day of Rest is a day of rest from…well, pretty much everything. It's also kind of the best day off ever. One thing that I've learned about myself since doing the Be Amber thing is that when I set my mind to something, I like to go all out with it (whether that's always good for me or not…doesn't matter. If I'm being authentic, then that's simply just a part of how my brain works). So when I decide to take a day off, I really take a day off.
One of my favorite parts of Day of Rest is bringing myself coffee in bed. It's a rather tiny, kind of dumb thing that I thought of when I was putting together the whole #IAmtheOne thing…it's the small acts that become huge when I'm in a relationship, and #IAmtheOne is based on the realization that I wanted to start giving myself those things instead of wasting so much energy on missing/wishing for them. And one of those small acts is coffee in bed. It's kind of hard to explain, but I'm kind of that morning person whom, as soon as I wake up, I feel like I have to jump out of bed and get started on stuff right away (this is also why I've learned to not do meditation first thing in the morning, as it becomes more of a mental making of a to-do list in my head instead of anything else). Coffee in bed has always been this silent, subtle signal that I can slow down, I have plenty of time, I don't need to be anywhere or doing anything just yet.
And one of the things I love most in the entire world are the kind of coffee drinks that are, like, a thousand calories in every sip. I used to have one of those every damn day, until finally I realized, "Hey, you know who hates these type of drinks? My body." So in January I decided to make myself a deal: I eat really well during the week and forgo those drinks, but on my Day of Rest? All bets are off.
So on my Day of Rest, I sleep in for as long as I want, then I slip out of bed, throw on a pair of yoga pants (I know I could get away with going to Backroads in my pajamas, since I see everyone else and their moms do it on Sunday mornings, but it's still that one line that I just cannot ever bear to cross. And yes, sometimes I can't quite bring myself to leave the house without putting on a little makeup, either…it might be my Day of Rest, but making someone look at my face without having mascara on at the very least is just quite simply rude), run/shuffle across the street to Backroads, grab a mocha, and run/shuffle back home, where I quickly change back into my flannel pajamas, hop into bed, and act like I just woke up to find that a hot and creamy mocha has magically appeared on my nightstand.
And I spend the rest of the day just like that: Hanging out in bed, flipping through the latest US Weekly, Glamour, and Vogue magazines; reading all the internet articles I've bookmarked and saved to read on that day; catching up on my Netflix and favorite shows; devouring my newest Kindle selection; spending an hour or three on a phone date with a best friend…it is, quite frankly, the most lovely kind of day.
I also typically get really great bedhead hair out of the deal, too:
And the thing about it is, having that day of just total and complete laziness has made the rest of the week super crazy productive. It's kind of like diets and cheat days: When an article about why Kaley Cuoco should be my new best friend come across my feed, it makes it so much easier to stay on track when I know I can just bookmark and save that shiz to read on my Day of Rest. AND, it also motivates me to get *back* on track after the day of rest. I call it The Rule of the Gorge: Much like how stuffing myself with pizza and brownies makes me eager to return to my regular pattern of super clean eating, a whole day of sitting around in bed and being a total and complete lazy-ass gets me psyched to tackle my to-do list on Monday.
Like today. I jumped out of bed this morning and hit the ground running, ready and eager to return back to my regularly-scheduled program of all the things that keeps me jazzed during the week: Lots of writing, intense work, eating really clean, weights and yoga, meditation and journaling, etc. Instead of feeling annoyed that my weekend wasn't long enough or that I didn't enough to time to read, I'm ready. That day of hardcore chillaxation has made me totally prepared for some hardcore word-that-has-to-do-with-working-axation. It actually makes me happy for Mondays, which is one of the miracles of my present life.
I promise to never do that whole chipper "HAPPY MONDAY, EVERYONE!" thing, though. Even though I am a morning person, people who do that type of overly-energetic-loud-greeting type stuff first thing on Mondays and/or mornings make me want to face-punch them.
Because I mean…mediation makes me a better person and stuff, but it doesn't make me superhuman. And even if it did, pretty sure She-Ra would punch a person like that, too.
Believe it.
The idea was inspired by my friend Jess, who started doing them a couple years ago and impressed me with her commitment to them: A Day of Rest for her was literally and totally a Day of Rest…she didn't go out with friends, she didn't make plans, and I don't even think she went online.
I know, right? HOW RADICAL, to cut off your life from the internet for even a day! To know a friend of the Amish…'tis wider, the world view.
Anyway. *My* Day of Rest is a day of rest from…well, pretty much everything. It's also kind of the best day off ever. One thing that I've learned about myself since doing the Be Amber thing is that when I set my mind to something, I like to go all out with it (whether that's always good for me or not…doesn't matter. If I'm being authentic, then that's simply just a part of how my brain works). So when I decide to take a day off, I really take a day off.
One of my favorite parts of Day of Rest is bringing myself coffee in bed. It's a rather tiny, kind of dumb thing that I thought of when I was putting together the whole #IAmtheOne thing…it's the small acts that become huge when I'm in a relationship, and #IAmtheOne is based on the realization that I wanted to start giving myself those things instead of wasting so much energy on missing/wishing for them. And one of those small acts is coffee in bed. It's kind of hard to explain, but I'm kind of that morning person whom, as soon as I wake up, I feel like I have to jump out of bed and get started on stuff right away (this is also why I've learned to not do meditation first thing in the morning, as it becomes more of a mental making of a to-do list in my head instead of anything else). Coffee in bed has always been this silent, subtle signal that I can slow down, I have plenty of time, I don't need to be anywhere or doing anything just yet.
And one of the things I love most in the entire world are the kind of coffee drinks that are, like, a thousand calories in every sip. I used to have one of those every damn day, until finally I realized, "Hey, you know who hates these type of drinks? My body." So in January I decided to make myself a deal: I eat really well during the week and forgo those drinks, but on my Day of Rest? All bets are off.
So on my Day of Rest, I sleep in for as long as I want, then I slip out of bed, throw on a pair of yoga pants (I know I could get away with going to Backroads in my pajamas, since I see everyone else and their moms do it on Sunday mornings, but it's still that one line that I just cannot ever bear to cross. And yes, sometimes I can't quite bring myself to leave the house without putting on a little makeup, either…it might be my Day of Rest, but making someone look at my face without having mascara on at the very least is just quite simply rude), run/shuffle across the street to Backroads, grab a mocha, and run/shuffle back home, where I quickly change back into my flannel pajamas, hop into bed, and act like I just woke up to find that a hot and creamy mocha has magically appeared on my nightstand.
And I spend the rest of the day just like that: Hanging out in bed, flipping through the latest US Weekly, Glamour, and Vogue magazines; reading all the internet articles I've bookmarked and saved to read on that day; catching up on my Netflix and favorite shows; devouring my newest Kindle selection; spending an hour or three on a phone date with a best friend…it is, quite frankly, the most lovely kind of day.
I also typically get really great bedhead hair out of the deal, too:
And the thing about it is, having that day of just total and complete laziness has made the rest of the week super crazy productive. It's kind of like diets and cheat days: When an article about why Kaley Cuoco should be my new best friend come across my feed, it makes it so much easier to stay on track when I know I can just bookmark and save that shiz to read on my Day of Rest. AND, it also motivates me to get *back* on track after the day of rest. I call it The Rule of the Gorge: Much like how stuffing myself with pizza and brownies makes me eager to return to my regular pattern of super clean eating, a whole day of sitting around in bed and being a total and complete lazy-ass gets me psyched to tackle my to-do list on Monday.
Like today. I jumped out of bed this morning and hit the ground running, ready and eager to return back to my regularly-scheduled program of all the things that keeps me jazzed during the week: Lots of writing, intense work, eating really clean, weights and yoga, meditation and journaling, etc. Instead of feeling annoyed that my weekend wasn't long enough or that I didn't enough to time to read, I'm ready. That day of hardcore chillaxation has made me totally prepared for some hardcore word-that-has-to-do-with-working-axation. It actually makes me happy for Mondays, which is one of the miracles of my present life.
I promise to never do that whole chipper "HAPPY MONDAY, EVERYONE!" thing, though. Even though I am a morning person, people who do that type of overly-energetic-loud-greeting type stuff first thing on Mondays and/or mornings make me want to face-punch them.
Because I mean…mediation makes me a better person and stuff, but it doesn't make me superhuman. And even if it did, pretty sure She-Ra would punch a person like that, too.
Believe it.
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