164 | Recovery Day

RECOVERY DAY || Several years ago, I started adding a recovery day after vacation, travel, or a particularly busy and people filled experience. Before, I would rush full speed back into work and my regular life. The result was usually brain fog and getting physically worn out in that first week. When I made scheduling a recovery day a regular practice, I felt better and I was more effective upon reentry.

What is a recovery day?
Simply put, it is a cushion of time before returning to our usual work and routine that we can use however we want in the moment for rest and restoration.

How do I use a recovery day?
First of all, there are no “I have to”s or “I should”s.
Sometimes I’m making lists, buying groceries, doing laundry–doing the things that help my life flow more easily.
Sometimes I’m doing nothing. Getting some sleep. Watching a movie or show. Catching up with a friend on the phone. Cooking for the enjoyment of it.
Sometimes it is a hybrid.

The gift is it gives me time and space to take a deep breath, tend to what I need, return refreshed.

The bigger gift is remembering that we are more than our productivity. We are more than our work. We are more than how we respond to others’ (and our own) expectations that we perform.

We tend to forget what we learn in the first chapters of the Biblical story– that rest and delight were woven into the fabric of creation.

We tend to forget the radical command to remember and honor the sabbath, a day when everyone and every creature was to rest–not out of pure obedience but because rest is an act of naming and claiming our (and others’) dignity and worth apart from what we produce.

✨What gifts have you experienced when you’ve planned a recovery day or built more margin into your schedule?