Six types of rest

I’ve just had an incredibly marvellous weekend! One that I’ve been looking forward to for ages and at the same time, I feel completely drained. A friend I spent most of the weekend with, felt the same way. She was exhausted enough to suggest we should cancel lunch and take a bit of time to recharge and maybe take a nap. We were all together several times throughout the weekend anyway. She works interstate and is only here in Adelaide for a visit during her birthday. 

Sometimes a holiday in itself is tiring too. I remember month-long overseas trips that were life-changing and meaningful, but I also could not ignore the fact that as the weeks went by, I was also missing the comfort of my own bed. Annual leave and holidays are great opportunities for a break and rest, but rest can come in all different types. The pandemic has also changed many things for us, international travel just one of them. What are some of the ways you recharge yourself? Do you find that there are many types of rest, other than sleep or taking a nap? I asked other uni students, and here are some of our collective thoughts on different types of rest.

• Time away. It might mean time away from the laboratory and stepping away from your data. It might mean that instead of repetitively analysing your data to try and find out what’s wrong, you take a step back. Looking at the problem from a different perspective might even prove helpful in enabling you to find a solution. To be honest, some of us found that even just a mini-break, some time away looking and thinking about something other than our research was helpful. We came back to our data with a fresh pair of eyes and a recharged brain eager to tackle the task again.
• Something ‘unproductive’. When I asked other HDR students what they do to rest that would be considered time away, they’d talk about resting while still doing things that were productive, even if it wasn’t actually writing on their thesis. Time away from writing would mean, organising references, maybe re-formatting bibliographic references. Time away from writing could also be reading relevant literature, and so on. Now, sometimes the point of time away is to actually rest and have time away from your research work completely. Taking part in an activity that may not be fully considered productive like going for a drive, or eating an indulgent breakfast without looking at research data might be a more effective way of resting and then coming back to work recharged.
• Connection to art. What is art? How would we connect to art? I’d say art can be enjoyed in many forms - books, music, poetry, landscapes, architecture, and so on. How about taking a drive somewhere while listening to your favourite music? What about a trip to your local museum or art gallery? Are there any spoken poetry session events in your local cafe? Sometimes just being in the library is quite restful for me.
• Connection to nature. Maybe take a trip to the zoo or go walk barefoot by the seashore as the chilly winter ocean laps at your feet. How about going for a simple camping trip to your nearest National Park or Conservation Park? If you’re quite time-poor like me, even just having lunch at your city’s Botanic Gardens is a simple way to connect to nature and enjoy a bit of a breather and quiet time from the hustle and the bustle of the day-to-day.
• Solitude to recharge. Speaking of hustles and bustles, and rat races, resting can also be just taking a break from having to connect with other people. Taking yourself out for a meal, by yourself, can be restful too.
• Stillness to decompress. If you’re like most PhD students nearing the last year of their candidature, most of us just want to sleep and hibernate - that would be the best way we could decompress! Even in our so-called ‘down time’ though, I think choosing to be still is not the most comfortable thing to do. Most of us are stuck to our phones, and going through social media or listening to podcasts or scrolling the news isn’t always very restful. That’s not being still. Maybe just try a 5-minute mindfulness exercise? For a few of us who’ve been practicing stillness, it’s worth having to ‘train’ yourself at the beginning to be still. 

How about you? How do you rest, take a break, or just recharge?