2016 hit me hard. Actually if I’m really honest, it feels like I’ve been trying to catch my breath since January 2014, when I returned to work after Ryan was born. We’ve had big changes over the last few years, babies, new jobs, a new home, and big learning curves along with those changes. There's a relentlessness about parenting little ones that I wasn't prepared for, and now, it's been years of learning to live with less sleep, less energy, less personal time, more responsibility, and more to love. Don’t get me wrong, all of it is good, and in fact most moments are really great—and more than I ever dreamed of, but that doesn’t make it any easier.
I was so encouraged by this piece I read in the New York Times, "Let 2017 Be the Year of Working Hard and Resting Hard,"—I appreciated the reminder that we're all working hard and we all need to practice resting. Read the full piece if you have a chance. If not, here's an excerpt:
"January 2017 will be the official start of the “Work Hard, Rest Hard” decade. We are going to hustle, sure. But we’re also going to rest. In fact, we’re going to be as good at resting as we are at crushing things.
We’re going to become pros at turning off social media, getting great sleep, working less and living more.
We're going to make being rested cool. We’re going to write about, share and celebrate people like Jason Fried, who switched his company to a four-day workweek during the summer. Then, when people ask how you’re doing, you can say, “Sit down. Let’s talk about it for a minute, because I have time for you, my friend.” At minimum, you should be able to answer, “Rested, and how are you?”
I know this sounds like crazy talk, but we can do it. Make it a priority to be human again — to work hard and to rest hard without buying into the idea that we’ll fail at life if we rest."
2017 will no doubt be another year of working hard, of setting goals and chasing after them—but as I wrap up 2016, I’m making one big new year’s resolution: Take time off. Make a routine of resting. Take more vacation. Hire a babysitter more often.
Pause, breath, rest.