REST

 BY WALLACE CALEB BATES

Rest is important. 

 

Today, I spent a good portion of my time resting. I shared a Facebook post that said, "Hey sorry I missed your text I am processing a nonstop 24/7 onslaught of information with a brain designed to eat berries in a cave." 

 

If you know me, you know that I am notoriously bad at responding to messages. I will not admit the number of text messages I have unread on my phone. It is not personal — it is part of the daily business in which I live. 

 

Regardless, the more significant message in that Facebook post applies a lot to our current time. Information surrounds us. For the sake of our collective mental health, sometimes we must take time away from the news cycle and focus on what is in front of us at that very moment. 

 

For me today, that consisted of finishing another book (my 12th for 2025), drinking lots of Diet Dr. Pepper on the rocks, napping, and doing pretty much nothing of importance or productivity.

 

That is okay. Not every day has to be filled with checklists, deadlines, and the pressure to be on all the time. We must spend some days breathing, being, and letting the mind wander without expectation.

 

I have always believed that rest is not a luxury; it is a necessity, a reset button, and a way to ensure that we do not burn out before we reach the halfway point of the race. Today, I honored that. I let myself exist without guilt or obligation. In doing so, I reminded myself that productivity is not always measured in tasks completed but in peace found.

 

Tomorrow will be there waiting for me, full of new opportunities to jump back in, to answer a few more texts, to read a few more pages, to make progress in whatever way feels right. But for now, I will let today be what it was: a quiet pause in the middle of the noise.

 

And that, my friends, is more than enough.

 

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