2017 has been a challenging year, and I am not alone in that experience. I'm not going to go into my own story here, but personally it's been a tough one for numerous reasons. Recently, after a particularly overwhelming day, a friend wished me a refreshing rest, and it occurred to me that the last time I had truly felt refreshed was in very distant memory. Functional, yes. Refreshed, no.
It got me thinking - what does feeling refreshed mean to me? How do I get there? How might we all be able to access and harness that way of being to help us get through what will surely be a challenging winter and holiday season for many?
For me, feeling refreshed is at least a couple of steps above functional. Functional means I can make it through my day and get everything done that I need to do, though I may feel exhausted by it. Functional doesn't leave me with much energy to do fun things after work, or to be active on weekends. In that state, I feel like I'm always playing catch up with rest.
Refreshed is a very different story for me. Refreshed means I feel pretty immediately ready for my day when I wake up. Refreshed means still having energy after work to go do whatever I like and be able to enjoy it. If I feel tired because of my day, it's a good kind of tired - the satisfying kind of tired that comes from a full day. To me, refreshed means I feel like I can go to sleep because I'm ready to sleep, not because I need it right that moment.
So, how do we get there when life is challenging? There's no easy answer to that question, especially because it varies so much person to person, so I'm posing it here to you. Maybe you have a meditation practice, maybe you run or dance, maybe you spend time with close friends.... Let's skill share in the comments. What does feeling refreshed mean to you? What do you do for yourself that keeps you trending toward feeling refreshed?
Stay tuned for a follow-up post next month on strategies, both from myself and readers!