I LOVE the lead-up to a retreat almost as much as the retreat itself.
There’s something magical about planning experiences that give people space for their own self-understanding—and creating an environment where that can actually happen. (We like to call it sustained sacred community.) Honestly, it feels like the perfect antidote to the uncertainty this world has been drowning us in for the last few years.
As I prepare the afternoon session of our upcoming retreat, Stress and the Spirituality of Uncertainty, I found myself returning to a TEDxAtlanta talk I discovered a few years back.
It’s called “The Real Reason Why We are Tired and What to Do About It” by Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith—and it was my first introduction to the idea of different types of rest.
Growing up, “rest” meant sleep, maybe a lazy day of fishing, or an afternoon nap in a sun patch. Later, as an adult, I added yoga, meditation, and relaxation practices to the mix.
But Dr. Dalton-Smith takes it further: she names 7 types of rest—physical, creative, sensory, social, emotional, spiritual, and mental.
If you’re neurodivergent, you’re probably already nodding along. It just makes sense. But for everyone else, let’s play this out a little:
What happens when you stop constantly feeding your brain new info (mental rest)?
What if you gave yourself permission to step away from nonstop social demands (social rest)?
Have you noticed how drained you feel after an hour in the middle of a screeching cicada brood (sensory draw)?
Or after sitting with someone’s emotional intensity for hours (emotional draw)?
Each of these “draws” drains us differently. And when we don’t notice or address them, we end up bone-tired and running on empty.
So here’s the question I’m leaving you with today:
What would it look like to design your life around restoring yourself in the exact ways you’re being drained?
Interesting, yes?
Tell us how you might use the concept RIGHT NOW.