Chronic Illness Lessons: It's Ok to Rest

One particularly difficult challenge in chronic illness is learning to rest well. Resting is not easy for anyone, but especially when you're hit with limitations and forced to rest as a young person. You  expect to be able to push through, to do anything, to have unlimited energy and stamina! And other may expect that of you, making the necessity of resting even more difficult.

In learning that it's ok (and even biblical!) to rest, there are a few practical things that have helped me rest better:

1. Don't fight it. I realize there are times to push yourself and times you just have to make it through. But when possible, learn to accept the crash and simply rest. This means you have to mentally rest too, instead of fretting or striving about what you can't do. Find a way to engage your mind that's restful for you. Listening to a book or music, watching a movie, coloring, writing a note to someone, laughing at corny jokes, doing word art, or organizing your phone pictures could be restful things. Often the things you did to rest before chronic illness will not be restful anymore, so experiment and be creative, finding what works for you!

2. Learn to pace. This hits my pride. I don't like to be seen as weak or unable to do things. Right now I'm trying to build up my stamina, and that means I go on very short, slow walks at a steady pace. I'm talking 5-10 minutes max. In the moment, sometimes I think I can go much further, but in the end I pay for it when I push myself too far. Pacing is a form of rest that helps you use your limited energy more effectively.

3. Let go of the list. If you've crashed, sometimes there are things that need to go, at least temporarily. If the dishes sit a little longer or the bathroom doesn't get cleaned as frequently, that's ok. If you have to scramble for pantry food for dinner or wait to get the oil changed, that's ok. If you have less time to devote to a project or paper, that's ok. The more you can learn to not become stressed or anxious when those things are put aside, the quicker you can heal.

4. Break up tasks into small, manageable goals. I've found I can rest better when I know what's coming and don't feel overwhelmed by my impending to-do list or afraid I'll forget something important. So I write everything down. Then I try to break those up into more manageable goals. A fellow chronic illness sufferer told me for a while, her goal was to have the bathroom sink cleaned each day! It was small but accomplishable goal. Simplifying tasks or goals may help you rest better.

There's a lot more to resting that could be said. But rest is a God-given blessing that was instituted from the beginning of the world:

"By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made." Genesis 2:2-3

God Himself, the unlimited one, chose to rest, to set an example for us. How much more do we, as limited beings, need rest! So don't fear rest and don't fight it. Accept it as a form of God's grace to you in this season. You are not sovereign. The world will continue on even when you stop.

It's ok to rest.