Do you find it a challenge to rest, even when you know you should or know you need to? Do you keep yourself going despite being worn out? Have you ever wondered why you engage in this behaviour?
If you answered yes, get cosy as we explore why you choose to keep busy and don’t allow yourself to rest.
In recent times, the hustle and productivity culture has pushed the idea that we have to always be doing something, achieving something, making something happen. And for so long, we’ve considered action to be a measure of success.
It’s no surprise that burnout has become so common because we don’t allow ourselves the permission to pause. And have you ever thought about why we do that? As with anything, when you understand the root cause, the solution becomes easy, so I’m sharing 2 reasons you choose to keep busy:
1. Resting brings up uncomfortable truths
When you pause and your mind isn’t occupied with the busyness of life, thoughts and feelings you’d been burying and hiding from come in full force. They wave in your face with, ‘HELLO! HERE I AM!’ and flood you with all the things you don’t want to feel; don’t want to remember; don’t want to see.
These thoughts and feelings bring you so much discomfort that you develop an avoidance mechanism by keeping yourself busy with anything and everything just so you can numb them out for a little while longer and force your body to store this discomfort for another time. And, yes, it comes back again and again, and again.
2. Resting means something negative
In the words of Tony Robbins, “Nothing means anything except the meaning you give it,” and we always respond to the meaning we give things. So, if resting means you’re lazy, you’ll keep busy so you can avoid feeling like you’re lazy or being seen as someone’s who’s lazy. If resting means that you’ll fail, you’ll avoid resting in order to avoid feeling like a failure or being seen as one. Whatever meaning you give ‘rest’ and ‘pausing’, you’ll respond accordingly, and continue to keep yourself busy, despite needing to rest and recharge.
As long as you keep running from the truth beneath you choosing to stay busy, you’ll continue to deprive yourself of the opportunity to live as the woman you wish to be. Instead of running away, I invite you to run in the direction you want to — face those truths, do the work, and take joy in your God-given right to rest.
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