I Don't Know How to Rest

My last real vacation was in 2019. Here is how that happened, and what changes when you put rest into the calendar first and only then fill in the working days.

I don’t know how to rest.

I have been working constantly and a lot since I was 17. I never had a golden parachute in the form of wealthy relatives. My parents had modest financial means, so they invested the right values in me instead. To my mind, that is the best investment you can make in your children.

From my teenage years I knew I could count on my own effort and work ethic.

That approach paid off, though later I understood that God had been taking care of me throughout my whole life. I owe my results to Him.

Years passed, I grew up. The habit of working a lot stayed. I remember arriving at my office in Nova Kakhovka at 9 a.m. and leaving at 11 p.m. Back then my work basically was my life.

Now, ten years later, work still takes up most of my life. Family balances me out to a degree, along with the time Nastya and I spend together.

I have started giving myself days off and free evenings far more often, but by and large I am permanently plugged into current tasks and projects.

If you ask me, “When was your last real vacation?” — the only thing I can recall is our wedding trip to Egypt and Israel in 2019.

Maybe I simply have not found the form of rest that suits me. When I go somewhere to disconnect from work, I get the feeling that I could be doing something useful for the business with that time.

It is the state where you are lying by a pool somewhere outside the city, and thinking about how many important things you could be doing right now at your laptop or in the studio.

I understand that not knowing how to rest properly is one of my weak spots.

In 2024 I want to try planning rest and time for a reset first, and only then filling all the remaining days and weeks with work.

So how do you rest? And are you any good at it?

Or are you the same kind of workaholic I am?