Ways to Rest When You Have No Time

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For those days when I'm exhausted but have a million and one things to do and I'm about to lose it. | Great easy ideas on ways to rest when you have no time!

Our bodies aren’t made to do it all. (In fact, last week we talked about The Gift of Rest.) Going continually and doing more than we can will wear on us after a while. Living in exhaustion for too long often leads to weakened immune systems, crankiness, and an unenjoyable life. For a period of time, little or no rest is okay. If it continues long term, something might need to change.

Here are some Ways to Rest When You Have No Time:

Prioritize.

Make a list of everything that’s cluttering up your brain. Go over all of those things that you have to get done. What truly has to be done now and what can be done later? Go beyond that. Now see what you can completely eliminate.

Set a Timer and Work.

If rest is as hard for you as it is me, tell yourself to do as much as you can in 15 or 30 minutes and then be done. I know I’m going to work my hardest for that x amount of time. It takes away that feeling that I’m not doing anything. I can go into rest feeling that something has been accomplished. You can also choose to rest first and set the timer and work second. Either way, you know that you will be productive at some point.

Rest.

Don’t worry about what needs to be done. Don’t let your mind wander to “to-do” lists. Pray, read, enjoy rubbing your child’s back, close your eyes and nap, take a long shower.

Set a Timer and Rest.

If the thought of rest really stresses you out, set a timer. Tell yourself you are going to give your body a break for 10 minutes. The kids have just gone to bed after a difficult day, the house is destroyed, work needs to be done, and you feel overwhelmed. Sometimes 5 or 10 minutes might be all you have or need. A quick shower, cup of tea, chapter of a book, short workout, reading a Psalm or a cat nap might be all I need to get me through the rest of the essentials.

Make Productivity More Enjoyable.

See if you can combine rest and work. Turn on your favorite CD, Spotify playlist, or podcast while you clean. Call your mom or best friend or listen to audio books while you fold laundry or do dishes. When you are cooking, set up a station for your kids and have them help. Make your favorite beverage to sip on during the day. Have a square of dark chocolate from your secret stash when the kids aren’t looking. Combine exercise with pushing the little ones in a double stroller to get you all out of the house for even an hour. Just breaking up your day can make a big difference.

How do you keep from losing it on those long days after a night of no sleep? What are the best ways to find rest when you have no time?

Linking up to these fun parties!

Menu Plan and Goals

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It’s been a busy weekend. Shaun worked almost 14 hour days Thursday and Friday and had to go in for a couple hours on Sunday. Saturday afternoon and evening we had a cookout and swim party with friends visiting from out of town, and Sunday was church and small groups. I’m hoping for a week of rest. A week where the kids sleep through the night would be nice, but I’m not counting on it happening.

My goal when it comes to the house right now is to declutter and then keep on top of it. I was able to organize off sized clothes for both kids and get stuff boxed up and put in the closet and under the beds.

All the ingredients are prepped for two meals this week and refrigerator oatmeal is ready for the breakfasts. It’s nice to have a couple of meal options that you can throw together quickly.

Menu Plan and Goals @ From this Kitchen Table

My ice cream experiment from last week: Blueberry Cheesecake. It was amazing!

Suppers:

Lunches:

Breakfasts:

Goals:

Linking up to Menu Plan Monday

How to Cut an Avocado

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A super easy way to cut an avocado. Fast and gets all of it out! Learned this at a Mexican restaurant and used it ever since!

Have you wondered how to cut an avocado? I learned this method while working at a Mexican restaurant in our town. Before that I just cut different ways attempting to do the best I could. Now, cutting an avocado is something I could do in my sleep and I actually enjoy doing it and want to make guacamole all the time.

You take your ripe avocado and slice it all the way around the pit and twist it apart so it looks like this:

A super easy way to cut an avocado. Fast and gets all of it out! Learned this at a Mexican restaurant and used it ever since!

Next, take your knife and carefully hit the pit with part of the blade closer to the handle. Twist the knife while holding the avocado half in the palm of your other hand and the pit will pop out.

A super easy way to cut an avocado. Fast and gets all of it out! Learned this at a Mexican restaurant and used it ever since!

Now, take the knife and make diagonal cuts down and across.

A super easy way to cut an avocado. Fast and gets all of it out! Learned this at a Mexican restaurant and used it ever since!

Finally, take a spoon and slide it in around the skin and let the avocado pieces fall into a bowl.

A super easy way to cut an avocado. Fast and gets all of it out! Learned this at a Mexican restaurant and used it ever since!

If you want to take the avocado out in a complete half, simply don’t make the diagonal slices and simply use the spoon to carefully remove and then slice on a cutting board in your desired shape.

This method is super easy and makes your homemade guacamole come together in minutes!

What’s your favorite way to cut an avocado?

(Here’s my favorite guacamole recipe!)

Homemade Guacamole - easy and delicious! This recipe came from a Mexican restaurant and is so good.

Linking up to these fun parties!

The Gift of Rest

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I don't have to earn rest or have to have everything on my list checked off to allow myself to recharge! Yes!!! I have such a hard time with this.

Kara Bee Photography

I have a problem. It drives my husband crazy. I can’t stand naps. Well, actually it’s not really that I can’t stand them, it’s that I have a never ending to-do list of things that have to get done continuously running through my head. I don’t have time for naps. Then throw in kids, only half of which regularly nap, and the opportunities for naps are far and few between.

This paragraph jumped out at me when I was reading Start by Jon Acuff,

Rest is a gift, not a reward. It’s not a hobby that lazy people take advantage of; it’s woven into the fabric of our very biology. The body is designed to rest. I don’t have to earn that with my performance. Rest is not a by-product of my success, it’s a  by-product of my humanity. I don’t have to get ahead to enjoy it or need it.

I don’t have to have a check mark next to everything on my list before I’m allowed to sit down and breathe. Sometimes a short pause is what I need to regroup and gain a better perspective on life. That’s not what I want to do though. I want to keep moving and getting things done. Going from one project to the next.

Rest done intentionally and at an appropriate time isn’t waste. John Lubbock says it this way,

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.”

I often don’t want to take the time to slow down and enjoy the little moments in life. Snuggling with my 3 year old as she falls asleep is hard for me. As I lie beside her, I think of everything I could be doing. So, let me be honest, it seldom happens. I don’t want to lose those small moments with my kids. This week both kids actually took naps at the same time for the first time in months. After a rough afternoon, I was exhausted. The house was a mess. I had a million things to do. My energy level and motivation was minimal though. I decided to take a moment to lie down and put my arms around my little girl and let our frustrations with each other melt away and rest. 

I came across this quote from Elaine St. James on The Art of Simple Facebook page this week, and it spoke to me.

“There are often many things we feel we should do that, in fact, we don’t really have to do. Getting to the point where we can tell the difference is a major milestone in the simplification process.”

Not everything on my list has to be done now. In fact, not everything on my list has to be done at all. Sometimes I just might need to make the choice to say no to one thing in order to say yes to something else. Even rest.

Linking up to these fun parties!

Menu Plan and Goals

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We were able to spend a few days in Branson with part of my family last week and got to meet my almost 5 month old niece for the first time! It was a lot of fun swimming, shopping, playing and hanging out with everyone. We went to bed late, got up early, and had a toddler who didn’t want to sleep. In spite of lack of sleep, the kids did really well and now that we’ve had a weekend to catch up on naps and putting the house back together we are as back to normal as we can be.

Menu Plan and Goals @ From this Kitchen Table

Playing in the creek!

Menu Plan and Goals @ From this Kitchen Table

Cousin Fun!

I went to my grocery store for the first time in 3 weeks and have restocked the refrigerator with fruits and veggies for the next couple of weeks. Hooray for options and lots of produce again!

On this week’s menu we have a staff party and two days where my husband will be working over 12 hour days. I’m planning leftovers for those nights so Shaun can bring them and reheat for a quick supper before working the event they radio station is putting on at the old drive in theater.

We are throwing around doing a Whole 30 in the next month or two. Have you ever done one before?

Menu Plan and Goals @ From this Kitchen Table

Suppers:

  • Staff Party – Bring Salad and Dessert (I brought Sesame Ginger Salad and Mini Cheesecake Bites)
  • Chicken Chow Mein (also known as the meal my husband cooks, but I always seem to end up doing a lot of prep work for)
  • Chili (using homemade chili beans from the freezer)
  • Homemade Pizza
  • Leftovers x 3

Lunches:

  • Pizza
  • Fajitas
  • Cucumber Tomato Salad for the 3 year old and myself x 5 (we love this stuff)
  • Lettuce Salads for my husband x 5

Breakfasts:

  • Pancakes from the freezer
  • Oatmeal
  • Refrigerator Oatmeal
  • Smoothies (maybe)

Goals:

What’s on your menu? Any goals you are trying to tackle?

Linking up to Menu Plan Monday