It's Gonna Take More Than Just Sleep...

If the headaches, back tension, and crippling anxiety are any indication, I need to make rest a priority this year.

What I’ve learned over the past two years, though, is that rest is more than just sleep. I could be getting eight hours a night (although, I don’t) and if everything else remains the same, I’m not going to feel rested.

If I’m truly going to prioritize rest, I need to practice mindfulness, set boundaries in my work and personal life, and relearn how to sleep properly. It’s the combination of it all that will truly provide me with the rest and recharge that I need to face the year ahead.

I will practice mindfulness.

It’s all too easy to slip into an anxiety spiral and lose an afternoon, or be up all night. My doctor, my family, and my therapist have all recommended that yoga, journaling, and going for walks are good for this sort of thing. It helps you get back into your body, and focus on the present.

So, this year, I’m going to try all of those things.

I’ve tried it all before at one point or another with varying success, but never for long, and never very consistently. Prioritizing rest will require consistency.

If I know anything about setting goals, it's that early success is important, so we're going for quality over quantity with this new routine. I probably will not manage to do everything everyday, so instead, the aim will be on doing a few things regularly.

To begin, I’m going to journal once a week. Pick a day to sit down in the evening and empty everything out of my brain and onto paper. Give those feelings and spirals somewhere to be that isn’t the inside of my head.

I’ll pick two days a week to practice yoga, probably mornings when I feel like I have more time, and won’t feel like I have to rush through things.

Most importantly, when I start to feel so anxious that a spiral is imminent, I will go for a walk. Anytime and anywhere I am able to, I will get up from what I'm doing and get outside, rain or shine.

A vital part of breaking those anxiety spirals is going to be identifying them and cutting them off early. Taking action as soon as I feel one coming on is a good start.

When I can be present in my body, sort out my worries onto paper, or recognize tension building and take steps to mitigate it, I will be on my way to a more restful existence.

I will set boundaries.

One of the things I learned to do over the past year or so is to set boundaries, and enforce them. For someone who isn’t used to enforcing personal boundaries, it’s been scary, and stressful, yet utterly necessary.

I’ve learned that I really need quiet time to myself to recharge. Even fun events, with people I like and enjoy being around can feel draining after a while. If I don’t take time to recharge after these get-togethers, then I’ll just be tired all the time.

I've learned that I need a clean line between personal time and work time. Without it, work bleeds into every hour of the day and I exhaust myself.

If I can’t set boundaries in my life, at work, and with my friends, I will not have the time or space to rest the way I need to. So, this year, I will make time to rest and recharge, and protect it.

When I have too much on my plate, and someone tries to hand me more, I will say no. When I’ve been social enough for the week, and need time to myself, I will make time. When work reaches into the evening, or an off day, I will set it aside, and rest.

People are not going to like this most of the time. It’s going to be challenging, to always set and enforce my boundaries, but it is vital to a restful existence.

I will learn how to sleep again.

This is a big one, and the most obvious.

It’s also going to be the most difficult.

Sleep has always been hard for me. The smallest thing can keep me awake–thoughts about the day, worries about tomorrow, the last drip of caffeine I had 14 hours ago, even small noises that other people don’t notice.

I don’t sleep well, you see.

If I’m prioritizing rest, I will need to prioritize sleep, and that means learning how to sleep again.

There are a number of things proven to help establish and maintain a better sleep schedule. So, as with mindfulness, I’m going to practice all of them.

Going to bed at the same time each night and getting up at the same time each morning greatly improves your sleep schedule. I’ve known this for years, but it’s so hard to do. Who wants to get up at their normal work time on a weekend?

Cutting back on caffeine and alternating days when you consume coffee, tea, and non-caffeinated beverages makes it easier to fall asleep at night. Unfortunately, I’m one of the millions of people who get a headache within a few hours of missing my morning brew.

Getting away from screens, electronics, and bright light in general starting two hours before bedtime has been found to make falling asleep much easier as well. This one is going to be a bit easier, as I love reading and spend some time with a book before bed each night.

The others are going to be far more challenging.

Who would have thought that developing a healthy sleep schedule would require the most work and discipline out of all of these goals? In the end, it is the most important goal to reach, so it’s the one I’m going to have to put the most effort into. I will stay away from electronics, keep to the same sleeping hours all days of the week, and deal with the caffeine withdrawal headache, all in order to fall asleep at night.

Maybe I'll take those one at a time. We're going for quality over quantity, after all.

This year, prioritizing rest means more than just sleeping better or more often (although that is important, and included). I’m going to spend some time this month establishing a routine of mindfulness, setting boundaries, and sleeping properly, in order to promote a restful existence for the rest of the year.

Happy New Year, and good luck with your restful resolutions!