@Monstera

Maybe Being Productive Means Knowing When To Rest

Maybe being productive isn’t about how much you can accomplish before noon, waking up with the sun, or going to bed before the moon shows its face. Maybe it’s not about how many degrees you have, or how many children you have, or how you’re able to juggle a family and a career and somehow find the time to go to the gym.

Maybe, just maybe, being productive means knowing when to rest. 

Maybe it means that when your bones feel tired and weary, you don’t keep pushing yourself, and you lay down, if only for 10 or 20 minutes. Perhaps, in those minutes of stillness, you don’t necessarily fall asleep, but you close your eyes—and in doing so, you can feel yourself relaxing again, and finding your breath, and collecting your thoughts. Maybe, by taking a tiny respite, you have a clearer picture of where you’d like to go.

Maybe, just maybe, being productive means knowing when to rest. 

Maybe it means that you release the pressure to do more—work more, drink more water, work out more, read more, and plan more. Perhaps you stop obsessing over finding the next big thing and instead find the time to rest within the happiness that you hold. Maybe, in doing so, you find contentment with what you have and a clearer picture of what matters most.

Maybe, just maybe, being productive means knowing when to rest. 

Maybe it means that you accept that you are a human and not a machine, and therefore you cannot be “on” all the time. You cannot be creating 24/7. You cannot be answering emails at all hours of the night. You cannot be working until 1 a.m. and rising before 9 in the morning and need to have a steady IV drip of coffee to function without crashing at one point. Perhaps, when you accept that you need a break every once in a while, you’ll see that the ideas at your workplace will become sharper. Your interactions will become more meaningful. The work will outlast the hours you’ve spent poring over it, for you will approach it all with a clear head, open mind, and rested heart.

Maybe, just maybe, being productive means knowing when to rest.