Up until a year ago, I, with every second of my existence, believed that a fulfilling life was a full life. The irony is that to this day, my actions stem from this belief sometimes. That’s why choosing to write about and most importantly, acknowledge this issue in my life has been one of the most complex decisions I’ve had to make recently.  

By a FULL life, I mean constantly filling your day with tasks only to trick the mind into believing that rest is bad. 

The truth is that rest is an inevitable part of continual growth. Think of a vending machine which provides food packets in exchange for a coin. Now imagine that this vending machine is placed in the middle of the busiest street in the world. The machine can’t keep accepting coins unless it’s refilled with food packets once it’s empty. That’s your brain, surrounded by an overwhelming amount of information just waiting to be consumed by you. You use this information to make comparisons and even trick your brain into believing that the only way to be superior to your competitors is to run in any direction possible, as long as you leave them far behind. Just like the vending machine, your brain needs the food packets, i.e. rest, to be refilled into the system before it’s ready to accept any more pieces of information. 

There is no need to fill your day with tasks that can be let go of to make room for rest. There is no need to measure your productivity with the number of hours you spend working each day. 

This week, I encourage you to find out if you are a victim of believing that only a full life can be fulfilling. If yes, I encourage you to edit the “not so needed” tasks out of your daily schedule and find fulfilment in doing less but with a fully present mind. 

See you next week!