Recovery with Resilience: Restore

Last year at this time I wrote about the need for recovery as I experienced a full speaking schedule, a lot of travel, and planning my wedding! Today we are experiencing different reasons for needing recovery with limitations on travel, social interactions, and resources, leading to what a CNO said recently, feels like one very long day…

Whatever phase you are experiencing at work or home, the change and uncertainty are not only stressful, it’s monotonous and frustrating, necessitating our need to restore. Restoring can mean rest, relaxation, or rejuvenation, and it is something we do for ourselves, with ourselves, and optimally by ourselves to fill us up and renew our hope and energy.

9 Ways to Restore:

Some of us type-A personalities are more comfortable “being productive” than restoring, and even when we are exhausted we keep pushing because we think we have so much work to do. It can feel indulgent or TMT (too much trouble) to take time to restore, but it is critical to our overall well-being. The more stressed and busy we feel, the more we need to restore, in other words, when we think we don’t have time for it is when we need it the most.

If you don’t already know what restores you, then start exploring and get to know yourself a little better. Try something you are not particularly good at, familiar with, or comfortable doing. I can’t escape to the mountains every weekend, but I schedule a hike once a week in the foothills, all by myself.

While some might see it as selfish, restoring is actually the opposite because it supports us to be our best and most resilient selves. Even though I sometimes have to wrestle with my shoulding mind all the way to my solo hike, I always get to know myself a little better and return home a little better, with new ideas, gratitude for what’s most important—and the hope that it’s all possible.