Rest as an essential perimenopause wellbeing strategy

Most of the women I work with (and many of those I speak to in general) are exhausted.

Or just less than exhausted. As in, they might be exhausted soon.

And busy. So there's little chance of rest in their immediate future. 

So, how about we take a different approach? 

Rest-based living. 

How does that sound? Lazy? Unachievable?

But what if we rested before taking action. Operating from rest rather than exhaustion.

Seems logical. You want all your resources with you before the next project, event, or sprint.

And you are your most important resource after all.

We find it hard to rest. It feels lazy when productivity is prized.

But it's essential.

I mean - that's what nature does in winter after all. 

And it really doesn't have to be hard.

Rest can be easy AND it can help you thrive rather than survive.

💡 It can be about prioritising actions according to your energy.

🕰️ It can be about creating clear boundaries - between work and home, between me time and others time. 

🫖It can be about micro resting during the day - a moment to yourself in the morning with a mindful cup of tea. 10 deep breaths before a meeting. A walk around the block after lunch instead of doom-scrolling. 

📚 It can be about switching off completely at weekends, reading a book and drinking tea. It can be about connecting with a good friend, or looking ahead in your diary and blocking out time that's just for you. 

⭕ I use my cycle to help me rest - there are points in the month (day 22 and day 28) where tactical resting pays dividends for my experience of PMS and cramps. As well as getting back up and running again afterwards.*

What would rest mean to you? How could you fit in a micro rest today?

I quite enjoy a lie down and listen to a short Yoga Nidra meditation on the free Insight Timer app between finishing work and getting back into family time. 

And if you're feeling like you should get up and going again, but life feels just too much, perhaps my 'caterpillar soup' analogy can help you understand why slowing down can be helpful when going through change - I made a short video on this here. 

I talk about rest a lot, because it's a lesson I need to keep learning, and so perhaps you do too. 

I also think it's fundamentally important to this part of our life, our mid-life years.

Because from well-rested we have the physical energy to exercise and cook nourishing meals, and the mental energy to make decisions about what's important to us and how we can make the daily juggle easier on us and on our families.  

Well rested also helps manage that rollercoaster of hormone change in perimenopause. Because lower levels of hormone can make us more sensistive to stress, can disrupt our sleep and increase feelings of anxiety - all of which can be exhausting.

And if you aren’t sleeping well, resting well in the day can help. Because you’re less wired and tired at bedtime.

If you need help with any of this, drop me a line. See if I can help. Or point you in the right direction. 

Have a wonderful, well rested week

* You can download my cycle/wellbeing tracker below, if you haven't already, it works whether or not you have a regular cycle - as a tool to check in with your wellbeing regularly and spot any useful patterns.