Week #1: Downtime & Delight Series

Kicking off our series with a look at the different types of rest (yep, we need more than sleep to feel rested). Plus a worksheet to help you evaluate where you need rest most.

Welcome to our first day of the Downtime & Delight series!

As we head into the second half of the year, it felt timely to take a pause, catch our breath and give ourselves a moment to relax and enjoy life beyond the hustle-and-bustle.

I first ran this Downtime & Delight series back in summer of 2020 when nothing felt particularly relaxing or delightful. Now, four summers later, it feels just as important as it did then. Covid is still here. Wars rage on. Inflation continues. Political tensions are high.

We all need a little break.

It’s not frivolous to take care of ourselves amidst everything going on around us. In fact, it’s what helps us keep going — especially through hard times. We can’t pour from an empty bucket.

Every Friday throughout July and August, you’ll receive a new post highlighting one simple, doable idea to help you get more downtime and delight in your life.

My goal is to keep this series light, positive and focused on small steps you can take today to feel more rested and relaxed. We won’t go into elaborate strategies, nor will we unpack or deconstruct how we got here (those are posts for other days).

I welcome you to share your insights, reflections, ideas and learnings in the comment section of each post. This is a series for paid members only.

At the end of the post, you’ll find a bonus resource section with additional media on our topic, along with a worksheet to put today’s post into practice.

Alright, let's get started with our first post on Downtime.

Week #1: Downtime - What kind of rest do you really need?

I’ve always been a solid sleeper (well, until perimenopause kicked in that is).

Most nights I fell asleep with relative ease and would wake up 8ish hours later feeling fine. I didn’t have a desire to keep sleeping, nor was I relying on mid-day naps to get through the day (not that there’s anything wrong with naps of course).

And yet, despite getting good sleep, there were so many times I didn’t feel rested.

I couldn’t figure it out: why would I have days where I felt exhausted or depleted when I’d slept eight hours the night before? It didn’t make sense.

This was especially acute during the early days (years) of Covid where I was home and sleeping more than I ever had, and yet spent parts of the days agitated, depleted and tired.

Then I came across Saundra Dalton-Smith’s work and I had one of those aha moments Oprah always used to go on about.

It turns out, feeling rested isn’t only a function of our sleep health, nor is more pillow time the ultimate cure-all for exhaustion.

Go figure.