Wrestling with Rest

You know, I’ve been trying to figure out this whole rest thing, and it’s almost comically difficult. I’ll decide, “Okay, I’m going to rest by watching a movie,” and then five minutes in, I’m turning it off and scrolling for another one. I’ll pick up a book, read a few pages, and then think maybe there’s a better one out there. It’s like I’m constantly searching for the “perfect” way to rest, and that makes it hilariously hard to rest at all.

Then there’s this funny twist: I find myself scrolling through Instagram and admiring these 23-year-olds living in vans or tiny studios who casually say, “I’m just going to watch an episode of Suits and relax.” And part of me thinks, “Wow, that sounds so easy and cozy.” But then I have to laugh at myself, because I have no idea if they even watched the whole episode or if that’s just their curated highlight reel. It’s like my inner voice is a 23-year-old van-lifer who thinks that’s the ultimate form of relaxation.

In the end, if you’re a 50-year-old individual like me, but your inner voice is actually a 23-year-old Instagrammer living a curated life, well, maybe that’s just a reason to laugh. Or maybe it means we should pull back a bit. Who knows? Either way, let’s just laugh about it and figure out how to rest anyway.

So here’s my question for you: Do you ever catch yourself comparing your downtime to someone else’s highlight reel? How do you find your own version of rest in a world full of curated perfection?