R-E-S-T. This is the first step in homeschooling (and life). Before buying curriculum, joining a co-op, or reading that book written by that expert. You must build rest into your day. It’s the oxygen mask that will keep you going and allow you to deliver oxygen to your children.
How do you fill your cup? As parents, and especially as mothers, we need to be sure to fill our pitcher so we can fill our children’s cups. If we empty ourselves, we pour from scarcity – this can look like fear or anger, bitterness or apathy, escape or frustration.
Amy Carmichael once said, “For a cup brimful of sweet water cannot spill even one drop of bitter water, however suddenly jolted.”
That quote has been on a sticky note above my coffee maker for years. Life jolts me all the time. Interruptions, challenges, failed expectations. It’s a reminder to me to schedule rest, to prioritize it. Rest fills the vessel of myself with goodness, truth and beauty so that out of my abundance, I can fill up my children’s vessels with the same.
Such a beautiful concept. We can all get onboard with this ideal. The execution of it is where I board the struggle bus. Do you? One thing I’ve learned as I develop this practice in my own life is continuing to pursue rest is the foundation to the remainder of my day. If I can carve out even the smallest of ways to reset, refill and refresh … I am more equipped for the bumps, detours and potholes each day brings.
I’ve found it critical to build a rhythm, not a schedule, for my life. A schedule is rigid. A rhythm is fluid. It gives my days the flexibility they need, while maintaining consistency. Rhythms are living and flow and flex with the seasons of life you encounter. Adjustments and tweaks are essential and harmonize with the melody.
Intentionality and margin are critical to creating a healthy rhythm. Rest is also an integral ingredient. How do you rest?
Rest is the practice of ceasing work to relax, refresh and or recover strength. Work. That must be defined also. Work and Rest are oppositional yet symbiotic. You need both and they are the shading and highlighting that brings the vibrancy to life.
Here are 5 practical ways I insert margin to allow time to rest into my daily rhythm.
These boundaries help me restore harmony* and allow margin for me to flex into the interruptions without feeling overscheduled and stressed.
- A four-day school week.
- A daily 2 hour quiet time for my kids.
- Trained my children to get up and stay quiet and self-directed until 9 am.
- Spouse handles breakfast.
- Saturday morning is my mama time-off.
Rest may be a breathing exercise in a tight timeframe. It may be a long walk outdoors. A nap. A hot drink savored in silence. Reading. A conversation with a spouse or friend. Exercise. Art. A shower or bath. Listening to music. Making time to enjoy something you love. The practice of pursuing and creating time for rest each day is essential.
Just as we schedule our tasks, meetings and projects. We must schedule our respites and recharge elements in the form of rest. Start small and simple and then practice adding more and growing this element to your daily habits.
*Sidenote: I use the word harmony rather than balance because balance is fleeting and always see-sawing. Harmony is living with a mindset of welcoming the interruption because there is a rhythm to absorb and compensate for the unexpected.
