If you want to be strong and stay strong, you must rest. Without recovery time, there can be no strength gains, only strength losses. As you push yourself to take care of the world’s problems in addition to your own, your energy diminishes and eventually your body fails to keep pace. You become mentally and physically exhausted. To be ready to resist, prepare with rest.

When you lift weights to build muscle, it is not during the exercise itself but during rest and recovery that you actually become stronger. An effective strength building regime includes both resistance and rest.

For a strong, healthy body, you need to strike a balance between resistance training and recovery time. Resistance without rest breaks down the body. Rest without resistance weakens the body. You must have both.

Body builders and athletes understand the importance of rest and recovery. What about the average person? Not so much, I’m afraid. Your body responds to stress much the same way it responds to lifting weights. It’s just hard to recognize that mental stress can be just as demanding on your body as physical stress. It’s also difficult to come to the understanding that it is when we rest that we grow stronger, not by continuing to resist.

It’s time to recognize that you grow stronger as a result of both resisting and resting. “Not doing” is just as essential to your well-being as the “doing” – striking a balance between striving and stillness.

If you live by the belief that there is no “rest for the weary”, you are bound to suffer. When you believe that you can be all things to all people, you are sadly mistaken. With all resist and no rest, your body and health are compromised. There is a price to be paid for being “Superwoman” – to resist without rest is a simple recipe for failure.

Rest is the absence of resistance. To rest is to let go of the idea that the world will fall apart unless you are there to hold it together.

To rest is not an act of selfishness, but a necessary act of self-care and self-healing. You are strong, but not invincible.

Sleep is rest and it is vital. However, sleep alone will not prepare you mentally and physically for life’s struggles. Somewhere in the midst of all of your busy-ness and taking care of the world, you have to take care of yourself.

Take a break. Go for a walk in nature. Enjoy dancing to one of your favorite songs. Go on a bucket-list retreat.  Stretch your arms wide and say “thank you” to your body for doing its best to support your efforts to be the amazing woman that you are!

If you want to stay strong – find your balance. Resist. Rest. Repeat.

Remember to use your Body Mind IntelligenceIt’s how you manage your energy that determines your health and well-being.

Learn more about your Body Mind Intelligence at www.anewbmi.com and get ready for Peggy’s “Three Weeks to A New BMI”, a free online offering!

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