The last week has been challenging… Did I say CHALLENGING?  Between going on a nutrition cleanse and starting a new round of fertility treatments, my gung-ho, 24/7 entrepreneurial efforts were completely thwarted.  Fast forward to today, Sunday, and it’s a struggle writing this blog post… which has led me to two epiphanies:

1) I don’t do REST well.

2) I don’t know how to feel like an entrepreneur when rest is my only option.

And I’m sure I’m not the only one… As women entrepreneurs with so many responsibilities, it can be so easy to work too much and rest too little… until our bodies force us to do so and, by then, it’s too late to create harmony between work and rest; rest has become doctor’s orders.  So I’m using this new rest lesson to learn how to redefine rest.

Here are 3 ways I’m redefining rest:

1) Rest is a choice I can make (rather than an ultimatum I have to take).

2) Rest IS temporary.  This is a critical one for me.  Every time my body demands rest, I worry that the specific demand will become a permanent requirement.  It’s hard to invite over a guest you don’t think will leave.  I’m working on this one.

3) Rest is necessary to success.  Action feels and looks better.  It more logically fits into the timeline of success.  However, there’s a time for work and a time for rest.  I’m still learning how to fit rest into the equation.

At the end of the day, the ability to rest is a personal choice that we, as women entrepreneurs, can make.  The first way to choose rest comes in redefining how we see, understand and feel about rest.  I’m working on it…

I’d love to hear from you.

What’s your take on rest?

Like it, love it or wish you didn’t need it?

How have you (or are you) changing your perception of rest?