Why I MUST have a Daily Rest-Time

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last Thursday was my hardest day by far on the island…

The funny thing is my struggle didn’t come from things that I had planned for [1] but were purely physical.

The basic problem is my bodies still getting used to the islands hot weather, and lack of air conditioning [2]. Add in the fact that you have to walk everywhere, and it’s pretty easy to become exhausted

Unfortunately until a person’s body becomes acclimated to the heat there are only a few things they can do to keep their energy up.

1. Drink plenty of water
2. And have a rest-time during the day [3]

I’m doing an awesome job with number one, but to be honest am struggling a bit with number two. Which is why my body sort of forced me to have a rest-time Thursday afternoon 🙂

That morning we had lost power for two-hours since they were doing work on the power lines so I decided to go for a longer walk to a community two hills over called Peter’s Hope instead of Barrouaille.

It didn’t take long to realize that was a mistake

For some reason it was unusually hot Thursday, so by the time I got back from the walk both my shirt and khaki pants were soaked through with sweat. After lunch an attempt was made to write a blog post on The Front Porches place in Evangelism by my eyes kept closing so I took a thirty-minute nap.

Wrote and published the article but the whole time felt like I had no energy. Even a walk on the beach and short swim which almost always made me feel better didn’t help.  Finally around 4:00 I crashed on the bed and spent a few hours just resting (reading books, surfing the internet, watching dvd’s).

Now in my opinion crashing on the bed for a few hours is an incredibly lazy thing to do…but at the same time it was the absolute best thing for me to do.

See I had neglected giving my body a time of rest (relaxation) as it was getting used to the island weather. So it started to send some warning signs [4] encouraging me to take it easy. Unfortunately I ignored those trying to fill my day with as much work as possible till my body pretty much said “okay that’s it! Your going to lay on the bed for two hours!”

I’m actually grateful for yesterdays experience because it reminded me the body needs a time of rest or relaxation every day.

1. A time to read “fun books” [5]
2. Or listen to Christian Music
3. Grab a power-nap
4. Read the Bible
5. Watch Sports
6. Catch up on a Netflix obsession [6]
7. Or just sit on the porch and do nothing…seriously nothing

At first penciling “watch Netflix” into our schedule may seem incredibly selfish or lazy and in a sense it is. But it’s during those selfish moments reserved for rest or relaxation that our bodies gain energy.

So you have a choice

Spend twenty minutes of relaxation a day that involves healthy responses (I actually prefer an hour) or spend hours crashed on the bed.

I don’t know about you…but I’m going to choose a daily rest-time 🙂

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[1]: emotional challenges, spiritual challenges, homesickness

[2]: there is an air conditioner in my home, but in most cases fans do a good enough job

[3]: part of this is actual sleep, but the other just involves resting

[4]: soreness in the morning, lack of energy

[5]: I prefer biographies or epic fiction like Lord of the Rings

[6]: I’m currently going through Andy Griffith and NCIS ( a weird combination I know)