On Resting

I have been resting since morning today. After a period of physical rest, I had to focus on resting my mind. With work being very stressful these days, my mind needs much more care.

One thing about rest is that I can never have enough. I can spend a whole day doing nothing at all, and yet I may go to sleep tired. If I idle my time away on the internet or watch movies, TV shows, or YouTube, time goes by quickly, and I hardly feel rested. What I do while I rest matters much more than how long I rest. Today, I have decided to test this hypothesis.

I haven't watched or read anything since morning, but I reevaluated how I usually spend my time away from work. There are no goals, routines, or structure to the day. I pick a task and mindlessly carry it out. That's no leisure but plain indolence.

[G]ood rest is not idleness. The most restorative forms of rest are active, not passive. Further, rest is a skill: with practice, you can learn to get better at it, and to get more out of it.

What does my form of resting leave me with? Nothing. If someone asked me what I did in a day, I would have no answer. That's no way to live life. I need to correct that.

I have already established a good work-life balance, where I don't let work spill into my life. I find time not to be busy. I sleep well. Now, I need to structure my off-work period and appreciate the resting time by filling it with leisure, not idleness. 

I hope that by doing so, I will feel better as the night dawns. Why else do I rest after all?