A Bit of Rest Will Do You Good

Weekend Reads v. 5.10.2025

Photo by Hannah Smith on Unsplash

This weekend, some are celebrating the release of yet another Taylor Swift album while others are celebrating fall-elujah at their nearest pumpkin patch. How am I spending the weekend? I am sidelined with a horrible cold.

There is something about being sick that sorta takes you back to square one. Your body starts to show those small signs that something is amiss, and you waive them off as something else. Never mind the fact that your body has displayed the same warning signs since you were six years old. You invariably reach that point of no return – you must admit that you are sick, there’s nothing you can do about it, and your plans have instantly been rendered meaningless.

That productive weekend? Ha! You can throw away that to-do list because you’ll be stationed on the couch for the foreseeable future. That fun brunch you planned with friends ages ago? Looks like they’ll be brunching on French toast while you eat plain ol’ toast. Maybe you’ll catch up on TV or movies, or it’s more likely you’ll snooze off into that hazy state where dreams merge with the sounds of the neighbor’s leaf blower.

Sometimes life hands you a forced period of rest. Maybe the culprit to your disruption is illness or a slowdown at work. Perhaps a profound loss wipes your calendar clean for a season. When I am handed an unscheduled period of rest, my thoughts tend to turn introspective. That has certainly been the case during this current spell of forced rest as I’ve been reflecting on something I read earlier this week by Ian Simkins. He wrote about how we humans are built for rest.

“The difference between music and noise…is rest. I think that’s true in life, too. When we’re always ‘on’ or constantly going, our life looks more like chaos than the composition we were created for. We were created to live with rhythm, a cadence of work and rest. The haunting truth in our day is this: Alcoholics get help. Workaholics get applause. What you cannot rest from you are a slave to. Rest will feel like stress if busyness is your drug.”

It’s funny when I look back on some of my younger years that were filled to the brim with social activities all while I yearned for a different life, a life I frankly didn’t create time for. Being busy felt addictive because it gave me a false sense of importance. I deeply longed for things that took time – a partner, family, wisdom, mastering a craft – and yet there wasn’t much space in my life for even a portion of these things.

It took a layoff from work to begin the recalibration that brought me to where I am today.

We were built for rest. The world around you may say otherwise, but you know you’re at your best not when you’re spent and run down. You’re at your best when you are rested. Take it from the person spending the weekend on the couch, a spell of rest (and maybe a cup of tea) will set you right again.

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A beautiful guide to Northern Spain and all the region’s delicious seafood.

A truth I have fully embraced: It’s OK to be awkward.

Always down for how to inject a Nancy Meyers aesthetic into my home. This article pulls lessons on how to do just that from an iconic hotel in my former hometown of Santa Monica.

Headed to NYC anytime soon? Here’s a list of the city’s most iconic food.

How to turn down an invitation (and look kind of awesome).

These public speaking techniques from some of the world’s greatest speakers were interesting because I’d never noticed them until they were pointed out to me. Now I can’t unsee them.

Is Leonardo DiCaprio the last great movie star?

Swooning of the tortoiseshell version of Holly Golightly’s sunglasses in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

Yet another story of a person doing just fine by living without a smartphone.

“I’m not sure if you are familiar with this concept of “interstitial time,” those little down moments when we may be waiting for a bus or in between classes. I’ve noticed that since the smartphone has become ubiquitous in the social landscape, that these untethered moments have been co-opted by the phone. It is rare to see someone reading a book, engaging in conversation with a stranger, or even just daydreaming. One might say “so what, big deal?” But in fact, such moments can be vital to fostering creativity and creative thinking. What do we gain, and what do we lose, with the filling of these “interstices” via smartphone usage?

Yes, it’s awful. So few people are daydreaming, scribbling a poem or making a sketch, looking around at nature, reading a fat novel, or interacting normally with the folks around them. Few know how to entertain themselves or even how to be patient with the boredom of waiting. True solitude is an almost non-existent resource at this point. Many little “crosses” that used to mark most days of most mortals are now evaded by perpetual scrolling, immersion in constant news and notifications, visual stimulation overload; one can fidget endlessly. It’s as if T.S. Eliot’s line “distracted from distraction by distraction” had finally found its ultimate realization.”

Should you be career cushioning right now?

These are the weirdest shoes I think I’ve ever seen.

An absolutely gorgeous hotel in London.

It felt more like summer this week than autumn where I am, but maybe making something from this list of “the most perfect fall recipes” will help me usher in a cozier season. (File this one under: Do After You Stop Coughing So Much)

Texts you should send me after we hang out.

Putting this gorgeous Jamie Beck calendar on my Christmas list.

Lol. This before-version of this log cabin was convicted of having “design crimes.” Thankfully someone renovated it to transform the home infused with “rustic-luxe details.”

Take gentle care of yourself!

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