I am blessed to live in an area of the world that fully experiences four seasons each year. The beauty of ice on the local streams, the crunch of frozen leaves underfoot, the nip of a winter breeze, or the utter quiet of a snowy forest. There is a calm about winter that permeates everything. It is a time for rest – the animals and the land hibernate preparing for the growth of spring. People, though, keep working and working and working.
In the go go go of modern society, we are conditioned to believe that rest is selfish. Rest is for the laziest among us. “I’ll rest when I’m dead” is a familiar saying in American culture. I fall prey to this all the time. With a never-ending to-do list and a million projects in the queue – let’s not even talk about how dishes and laundry multiply. I absolutely feel like if I’m sitting down and not working on something I’m wasting time. And if I don’t get to the end of that mile-long list that lives mostly in my head … what am I doing? If you’re anything like me that isn’t just the spiral of to-dos in your head but then there’s shame or disappointment in yourself if you didn’t get it all done. That negative self talk that we’ve brought up here a whole bunch creeps back in and starts telling you that you aren’t good at your job or other people can figure out how to get this done.
In her book, Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underlining, Celeste Headlee explores the origins and impact of our work now, rest never culture. I was expecting a typical personal growth read and was pleasantly surprised by the research and history included in her book. Her dive into our American culture of working ourselves to death was fascinating. Starting with the fight for shorter work weeks and work days at the height of the Industrial Age and then exploring how far away from that we have come – celebrating our 80+ hour work weeks and the bleeding boundary between home and work.
Blending work and home means we never get separation from either. So while we may only spend 30 hours in the office, it feels like we’re working 80 – answering email in the stands of our kids basketball games or responding to a message on the communication app. We are also shopping for birthday presents from work and scheduling our kids appointments because when else will we get that done. As an educator I feel this so much! We joke that we earn every single school break we get. Burnout across the nation among educators is skyrocketing.
So what do we do? I believe Celeste Headlee would say, “do nothing.” Let’s be clear that I do not mean here that we just let this system of overwork continue to grow and fester in our lives and do nothing about it because we can’t really change the giant system anyways. Absolutely not! When we continue to act complacently in a system that doesn’t serve us we are strengthening that system and it’s impact. I mean we do nothing – as in rest, take a break, set clearer boundaries about home and work times.
Here’s where my inner voice starts chiming in again with all the things that will not get done or will fall apart or will be an absolute disaster because I didn’t do them right then. But when has this actually happened? When have things fallen apart because you didn’t get to that right away? I mentioned that the whole family got sick over the holiday break and I worked to embrace progress over perfection. Well I got sick at the end of the break. I had to go back to work when school resumed. I had to be there to greet staff, students and families. I had to run the meetings, take the calls, and show up for the events. And for these two weeks I pushed through and did all the things. Then these last few days I felt it. I was exhausted – like bone tired no matter when I went to bed. I had a dull headache that just wouldn’t go away. I was chilled despite warmer temperatures and had a brain fog that was tough to clear. You know what I needed? Rest. Time to let me body heal and restore. If I didn’t make time for it my body was telling me it would force me to take it. So I rested. I took the day off and drank hot tea with honey while sitting in my favorite chair snuggled under a pile of blankets. I read, some work stuff and some not work stuff. I just rested. And while the next day I wasn’t 100%, I definitely felt better.
Rest is exactly what nature does. Winter is a time when nature rests. Animals slow down or hibernate. Creeks slow and some freeze. Frogs and turtles burrow into the lakebeds to slumber. The land rests as well – restoring balance and nutrients to support the upcoming growth of Spring. Winter can be a time for rest for people too if we give ourselves permission to do nothing. Slow down. Say no to that extra activity. Turn off your email notifications after a certain time.
Let’s make people wintering the new norm. Slow down. Rest. I’m giving us all permission to do nothing.
How can you embrace wintering in this season of your life?
BetsyWright 