People who cannot rest properly will have a mind filled with work they are not doing now. To put it simply, it’s “greedy thinking.”
When they are working, they think about taking a break. When they are resting, they believe that they should not waste their rest time and that they have to work and study. They have the idea of postponing their break. Loss is horrible, so there is a loss avoidance rule at work.
One study showed that people who rested for half the day were four times more productive than those who worked all day. If you are still thinking about things or using your mobile phone to check information while resting, your brain cannot relax. Brain fatigue will turn into chronic fatigue, resulting in the inability to switch between work and rest.
Doing things when you have a fever will not have a good result. Similarly, if you think about things when you are mentally exhausted and in a state of anxiety, you will only become more and more pessimistic.
If you want to think about the future, do it after your body and mind have recovered. If you don’t sleep enough, think after a good night’s sleep. If you are on an empty stomach, think about it after you have filled it.
Smart rest
One trick to resting is to make the most of your time. People expect themselves to be highly conscious or efficient, but this is just one of the many facets of diversity. If you like to cook, then enjoying cooking is a great way to use your time.
If you don’t like to take a break, it is recommended that you make it a rule to take a day off regularly from now on. Make it a day with no plans one day a week. If you want to rest, you can lie on the couch. If you feel lonely, you can go out alone. You can go to a cafe you’ve always wanted to visit and enjoy its atmosphere.
If you have an appointment with someone, “keeping time” alone can also cause pressure. Planning an unscheduled day allows you to fall asleep easily the day before without thinking about anything.
Furthermore, rest can be more than just about spending time. It can also be about spending money.
For example, if you spend money on beauty treatments, you can expect to get rid of stress and achieve beauty results simultaneously. Rather than enduring it to the point of becoming mentally broken, implementing a self-reward plan regularly is more likely to improve your performance. After all, this will be a better direction for using survival energy. If you are a little hesitant about spending money on yourself, you can start by creating a budget at the beginning. By having rules in place, you can mentally prepare yourself and hopefully achieve the effect of alleviating your guilt.
This article is excerpted from What Happens to the World Has Nothing to Do with Me: Rules for Highly Sensitive People to Live Comfortably, written by Ryota and published by Shimao Publishing House.
Translated by Cecilia and edited by Amanda
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