relax

Defining Rest for Increased Creativity and Productivity

Recently I edited a podcast where the guest was talking about his creativity cycle and how he learned to lean into the different stages. He used the acronym CPR as a way to remember that after Creation comes Promotion, and after that should come Rest.

When I heard this, it dawned on me that this was why I had been suffering from so much burnout back in 2020 — I had continuously put aside rest in order to do what I loved. I felt energized by it and I figured if I needed to rest, I would surely just know to do it, right? Wrong.

December 2021 Roundup

When I picked the words Relax & Reflect for this month’s focus, I had a feeling “Relax” would somehow be harder than it sounds and I was right. By the middle of the month, our whole house was passing around one of the five colds our 4-year-old brought home from school this year and my plan to keep a lot of white space on the calendar turned out for the best.

I wrote about this in the mid-month entry, but one way I found to relax was when I picked up my childhood hobby of making friendship bracelets again. I’ve found it to be incredibly relaxing and a nice way to stim while watching TV or talking with Mark. I get into such a rhythm and it’s so funny how the muscle memory came right back.