Readers of the speaker's book discovered they could stop feeling guilty about resting, calling it life-changing. The speaker takes garden breaks while working from home and now sees them as mental-health protection, like exercise. Find an activity you enjoy and let yourself rest without the inner critic.
Chapters
The main thing that people have come up to me and said is that from reading the book, they learnt you don't have to feel guilty about resting. And they, some have said that, you know, they find that a kind of life-changing insight that they don't need to feel guilty, that it is okay because there are benefits and there are real benefits for our mental health of resting. And one of the biggest changes I've made actually is not feeling guilty anymore about doing something that's restful or taking a break. I love gardening and I've got a small garden and a tiny greenhouse. And when I was working from home, I did used to sometimes go out into my garden for say 10 or 15 minutes and have a little potter and deadhead things. I always felt a bit guilty about it, and now I deliberately don't feel guilty because I think what I'm doing is I'm protecting my mental health for the future and for now, just as I protect my physical health by going running. That this is another thing I'm doing to, to protect myself. And if you can find the right activity for you, then you can feel those kind of whirring thoughts start to disappear. So if you can find that activity, that can make such a difference. And not feel guilty about it. Give yourself permission to rest.
