Rest and work/life balance
"Rest is radical because it disrupts the lie that we are not doing enough" - Tricia Hersey
Hi Radical Rest Network - hope you’re getting time outside and the rest you need this summer. In this mailout find upcoming events on balance and burnout, notes from our Rest and Parenting discussion, and tips for reducing time on your smartphone.
If you’re new to the Radical Rest Network, you can find our favourite resources on this pinned post:
Next online meet-up: Rest and work/life balance
Join our next online Radical Rest meet-up, on Wednesday 17th September, 11am-12pm (BST) with fabulous speaker Annette Corbett. Annette works with creative sector freelancers and employees to find balance amongst the work-life juggle, and create space to hear themselves think.
Enjoy Annette’s insights and tips, plus discussion with other Radical Rest Network members and, of course, a collective chance to rest.
Joining us? RSVP here: https://forms.gle/MH3yNX1YtRKtgkjm6
Future date for your diary: our next RRN meet-up will be with amazing speaker Dr Claire Plumbly, author of the book Burnout (lucky us!) - on Monday 17th November, 3.30-4.30pm (GMT)
Rest and parenting
At July’s meet-up we heard from author Jessica Slice, who wrote Unfit Parent on what she’s learned from disability culture about caring more sustainably. Here’s highlights if you missed it:
Jessica speaks about tiredness to her children as a ‘solid that can’t be moved’ - shows them they can have limits and needs too
The priority is that my children see me consistently present and kind - rest is non-negotiable for this. We do almost nothing on weekends!
My partner and I perform exhaustion differently (pushing through it vs getting grumpy). Now have a daily check-in about how busy each of us are, how much energy we have to give, do we need help?
Haven’t had a smartphone for 5 weeks! Feel like a new person - it’s fun to be bored, the inconvenience was surprisingly easy
Member discussion & tips:
Everyone ‘performs exhaustion’ differently - check-ins with team as some do/don’t say when they’re drowning
Permission not to do loads of things with the kids - ‘good enough’ is being consistently kind
Children need to be bored!
Committed to Smartphone Free Childhood for my kids - but not for myself?
Needing screens with child to get a minute to myself - how to find the balance
When kids are energised but I’m exhausted, it’s a conflict. I say “this is hard, you need to be jumping like this right now, but it’s hurting my tired body” - we try to figure it out together
Disabled people have often pushed past the discomfort of asking for help - it’s great, creates a system where others feel they can ask for help too!
Walking for rest this summer
Recommended by members this month:
Another 4-day-week trial ended with every organisation choosing to continue
Reducing screen time app recommendations: Screen Zen, Freedom, Opal
Book recommendation: How to Break Up With Your Phone
This year’s Space Out Competition in Seoul again rates the world’s best resters
History says we can only really work for three or four hours a day
Want to make a change, and check in with yourself in a day, a month, a year? FutureMe will deliver a letter you write to your future, more-rested self!
Find a walk to restfully enjoy in the UK this summer