Why is Resting so Hard?

Last week, right after I took my shoes off from that 21 mile run, I felt a weird pain in my left foot. I’ve been here one too many times before — always a different part of the body, a different type of pain, but it seems that every year I get a new injury. Part of me thinks, “welp, that’s just part of being active”, but another, much fainter voice in my head says, “maybe it’s time to rest a bit”.

Timing blows. This injury hit just 3 weeks shy of my marathon. A race I’ve been training for the last 15 weeks. A race I’m flying to with a group of friends to celebrate my birthday. A race that I've come to identify myself with over the last few months. All of these thoughts consumed me the first few days, then I thought: what if I just rest a little? Seven rest days, two doctor visits, one x-ray, and zero miles later — there’s a decent chance I can run the marathon 🙏🏼.

You’re probably wondering, “what’s the point of all of this if I’m not training for a marathon or even a runner?”. Well, I have a sense there is somewhere in your life where you have a hard time resting. For me, it’s physical activity, but years ago it used to be work. I couldn’t go a day without working at least a few hours, but most days it was more like 12+ hours. Work had become such a big part of my identity, to the point where without it, I thought I didn’t have a purpose.

After I quit one job, it took me two months of hunting before I signed on at the next company. Those two months were pure hell — I didn’t even want to go out in public, fearing the inevitable “what do you do?” question. What did I do? I didn’t have a job title to define me for the first time and I completely lost my sense of self.

How I learned to rest, find my true purpose in life, and all of that is a story for another time. All of this to say — where in your life do you find yourself burning the midnight oil? What would it look like to ease off a bit and a rest?