Rethinking Rest

If only rest was something we could naturally fall into. At one point, perhaps the setting sun meant our minds would start to slow and our bodies would quickly follow.

Unfortunately, in today's fast-paced world, the sun doesn’t have much say in our schedule. If we’re trying to live more simply and intentionally, rest becomes something we have to pay attention to; sometimes even re-learn.

Summer, especially, has a way of throwing things off. 

When the Season Shifts, So Do Our Rhythms

Even when we’re trying to keep a healthy routine, summer stretches everything. The days feel longer. The lights stay on later. And without meaning to, we start staying awake and doing more.

The extra daylight tricks us into thinking we have more capacity than we may realisitcally possess. We fill our time with more plans, more movement, more expectations to “make the most of it.” We stress about filling every moment of summer with life-changing memories. And somehow, in all the supposed slowing down, we end up more tired.

Whether we want to admit it or not, we need rest. 

Learning  to Rest

I’ve noticed that when I’m not sleeping well, everything else feels off. I start dragging through the morning. I forget things. My thoughts feel heavier than they should.

And usually, it’s because I’ve stopped paying attention to my body, the clock, and the cues that tell me it’s time to wind down.

I've come to understanding that I need to make a few intentional changes over the summer if I want to rest well. 

Here are a few things you can try:

• Close the blinds an hour before bed. I used to wait for the sky to darken naturally, but in the summer, that’s just too late. Closing the blinds earlier sends a gentle signal that the day is wrapping up.

• Turn down the lights. Softening the lighting in your home (especially overhead lights) helps your body ease into rest mode. I’ll often turn on a lamp or a dim overhead light instead of keeping all the lights on.

• Cool down the room. A small fan, lightweight sheets, or placing a bowl of ice in front of a fan can help take the edge off a hot room. A cooler space makes a bigger difference than I expected.

• Create a summer-specific wind-down routine. This doesn’t have to be fancy. Maybe it’s a quick shower, stretching for five minutes, or sitting outside with a book as the day fades. Something that helps you transition from “on” to “off.”

• Avoid the late-night scroll. This one’s tough, but I’ve noticed that even 10 minutes of mindless phone time makes it harder to fall asleep. To combat this, my husband and I always charge our phones outside our bedroom.

• Set a stopping point. In the summer, the day can just… keep going. Sometimes I have to give myself a curfew, not because I’m being rigid, but because I know I’ll feel more like myself in the morning if I do.

Rest is one of those things we assume we’ll just know how to do. But the truth is, most of us have forgotten how to truly rest. 

Summer makes this especially tricky. With the longer light and looser schedules, it’s easy to let rest become something we’ll get to later. We stay up later, we fill our calendars, we tell ourselves that we can catch up tomorrow. But slowly, our bodies start to feel the neglect.

So maybe this summer, instead of asking “what else can I fit in?” we can ask, “what would it look like to feel rested?”

Maybe it looks like turning off the lights when the sun’s still up, or keeping a consistent bedtime even when the days are long. 

Trying to rest won’t go perfectly every night. Life still happens. But when we start to treat rest as something worth protecting (and not just a leftover to-do item) it can slowly becomes part of our rhythm again.

Keep it simple, 

-Ashley 💛 

Want more simplicity in your life?