Please rest.

It's been 6 months since 2021 starts, going back to January 1st, if I will ask myself if my plans are going well - well, it's not. After 4 months, I got swayed by tons of works and unnecessary rests. People around me thought I work so much hard and needs so much rest, but no. I am tired not because I do a lot, I am tired of doing less. Looking back to the 2nd half of the year 2020, I've been complaining about lots of work given to us, I complain every time I have the chance to. But then, 2021 entered, and boom! Feels like all my complaints are heard. Yet not long after, I then complain again about the opposite thing this time.

Well you see, I notice that I concern about things that are making me feel miserable for the time being and there is totally nothing wrong with that. Complaining about something is normal, thus just keeping it to yourself may just be a burden that will pile up.

Some of the movies I watch said that shouting all the worries, complaints, and anger will help you reduce your stress or at least feel lightened. I realized, it's like a boiling pot, you see, the lid of it always has a hole to let the steam goes out so it does not blow up - 

Just like humans, they at least need something to vent out. A tiny hole in life where all this negative stuffs will casually flow out and to avoid blowing up.

I also once find this movie wherein she is completely drained out of all the issues and stuffs going on in her life and her friend asks her to go out and hang out, but she respectfully declined and said she needed rest. By the means of rest, I thought she will just do nothing, like just lay on the couch, sleep all day long, or even just paced out as long as she wants - but that didn't happen. What she did the next day, she wakes up not too late, nor too early. She grabbed her favorite coffee filler, go outside and water the plants, read books, paints her dog, does exercise and yoga, and by nighttime, she cooked her favorite food, and even watch the movie she's been longing to watch. Now I questioned it, "where does the rest go in there? She does more things rather than what she did in their office." And what makes me shock is when her friend asks if she finally gets the rest she needs, she answered yes. 

As I ponder my thought and read books after watching the movie, I came to realize, people have their own ways to rest - and the most common one is doing the things they've been longing to do for so long or even just doing the things they like. Rest is like being able to breathe. And by means of breathing, 

some people prefer to breathe in the environment where they are most comfortable.

While I was pondering these thoughts, I was in the middle of my free time when my mom suddenly asks, "Aren't you going to do something?" I then answered, "I am resting." She once again asks, "But you are reading books." I didn't answer thus smiled, I finally conclude, reading was my rest that time.

"How beautiful it is to do nothing, and then rest afterward?"

Rest is always a valid answer because each people's struggles are different and have varying tolerance. It's not always the laziness that factors it - maybe you are just tired of doing the same things over and over again that you need a new environment. When my friend always tells me to rest, I find it comforting and also funny, I translate it like, "As a gift, do the things you want to do even if you didn't do anything for today." But hey! Rest do help on finishing tasks!

We, humans, have lost the wisdom of genuinely resting and relaxing. We worry too much. We don't allow our bodies to heal, and we don't allow our minds and hearts to heal. 

- Thich Nhat Hanh

So, the next time you complain about things, shout it out!

Vent it out!

And then smile!

Take a rest!

Your own kind of rest.

And make sure to have energy for another complaint.