When you don't get enough rest , things can get very uncomfortable -- and often dangerous -- quickly.
In normal modern life, we don’t need to pay too much attention to the basics. I have a refrigerator full of food, all the clean water I can use, and a soft bed to sleep in every night.
This is the case for many of us.
In the woods and trails, the basics drive most of your day. You learn to monitor your physical and mental state very naturally. This is a very effective and necessary mindfulness training.
A major advantage is that this mindfulness does not disappear the moment you return to society.
It persists.
The ability to easily monitor your basic state of being is so useful that it affects every aspect of your life.
One of the basic elements that is easy to manage in the woods but more difficult to manage at home is rest .
When you're carrying a 50-pound backpack over a mountain range, stopping to rest isn't optional. You just need to. When your legs are burning and you're sucking the wind, animal instinct takes over and you stop.
At the end of a long, rugged day, your body is screaming and you just can't wait to get into your sleeping bag.
There's no Netflix or beer to distract you, but the need for rest is so real that you won't indulge in these luxuries even if you have them.
The balance between exertion and rest is clear and natural.
In our normal daily lives, things are different. Our minds usually run the show. For most of us, our bodies are not as tired as they are on the road.
Rest gets complicated.
Beyond the fact that we don't typically climb mountains every day, there's a more subtle issue: a pervasive society's need to hustle, move forward, and get things done at all costs.
Don't get me wrong. I'm as ambitious as they come and I like to kick ass. But after working with thousands of people, I saw a common and dangerous pattern.
When we don’t get enough rest, we put our bodies and nervous systems into overdrive mode. We operate on cortisol.
While stress can have positive effects, too much stress masks the messages our bodies are screaming at us.
According to 2019 research, more and more Americans are getting far less sleep than they need for basic health and strong cognition.
In the woods, it's easy to see that when you don't get enough rest, you make bad decisions and act like a jerk.
In our daily lives, we become accustomed to levels of dysfunction that we don't even realize we have.
Having worked closely with thousands of men, I would say that the general state of affairs for most men can be described as overworked, overstressed, and woefully inadequate.
Burnout would be a good adjective.
It's like most men are just used to running in smoke. When it comes to rest, many people forget or don’t even know what it feels like to have a full tank of gas.
This can change - it starts with permission.
Once we get the rest we need, we can become more aware of what our bodies need. Then we started doing something.
Get a full night's rest for a whole week
Make it an overall goal for you.
At the end of each day, write down how your day went. How you feel, how productive you are, how you interact with others.
At the end of the weekend, go back and put it all away.
Get a massage and learn to let go
If you're already getting a massage, get one! If you are new, get a massage!
Start learning to relax your body with some help. Start noticing how you might be holding on to tension and how to release it.
You can also practice self-massage, and the best news is it’s completely free!
Plan a vacation that truly recharges your batteries
Most of us work all year long and then go on vacation, which is filled with excursions, eating, drinking, and socializing. You may come back more tired than when you left.
Plan a trip, even just for a day or two, with the goal of relaxing and recharging.
Balancing your health isn't just about exercise
When we live high-stress lives, sometimes our only release is to hit the gym harder. You don't have to stop exercising, but you can include some sauna time or a walk outside.
See what it feels like to take care of yourself in new ways.
spend time doing nothing
Schedule a time during your day to do nothing. Yes, nothing.
Just park it on the couch and stare at the wall, lie in a hammock and gaze at the clouds, or sit in a nearby park and watch the trees sway.
Do this for at least 10 minutes. This will help you get used to letting your nervous system relax.
take a short nap
Take a nap! ? ! how? when?
You can figure it out. Give yourself a gift and take a nap.
More and more men are taking responsibility for themselves in new ways.
Our events and men's groups at EVRYMAN are a place for you to be honest about how you feel and what you want. This is a simple way to check in with yourself with the support of others.
Other projects, such as Men in the Shower, are exploring what masculinity means in changing paradigms.
Underlying all of this is the fact that many men have social patterns that are completely unhelpful. Not getting enough rest is one of them.
This isn't rocket science. When we are cared for, we feel better, perform better, and are kinder to others.
If some old condition is keeping you from caring, I invite you to ask yourself what the real obstacle is. Then I ask you to start experimenting with how your life feels when you prioritize well.
