Planning Adequate Rest
Have you ever had one of those weekend warrior, marathon garden work sessions where you just hurt all over afterwards? Back pain, muscle aches, even strains or bruises can all happen after hard work in the garden. If you have a well thought out garden plan, you can break your tasks down into small pieces that you can work on each day to avoid strenuous sessions. But sometimes life happens and to meet your deadlines you have to push through. After you’ve worked hard, you need to schedule in some rest time. Giving your body and brain time to recuperate can actually make you more effective in your next round of garden chores. Here are some ways that planning adequate rest will help make you unstoppable in reaching your garden goals.
Respect Natural Cycles
The natural world tends to move in cycles. The different seasons throughout the year. The phases of the moon. The length of each day from sunrise to sunset. Your body has evolved to respond well to those natural cycles. If you get sunlight in your eyes and on your skin in the early morning, you feel more energized and awake. If you avoid bright light after sunset you feel more ready for sleep. You may feel energized in the spring when the weather first starts to warm up. Or you may feel like going into hibernation as the days grow short in the winter.
Respecting those natural cycles and letting your body rest more when the days are short and the nights are long can help you build strength for the long days to come in the summer. You can do some gardening all year round if you live in tropical areas, use season extension, or indoor growing areas. But if you’re feeling burnt out, consider taking the winter off and letting your body – and your garden rest. Let the anticipation of spring build and you may be surprised how excited you get to start gardening again after taking some time off.
Resting Builds Strength
The most obvious benefit of planning adequate rest is to let your body recover. You build your muscles by stressing the muscle to the point where some damage occurs and then letting it recover. Your body will automatically build back the muscle stronger. If you keep repeating that pattern over time you can build a lot of strength. Getting stronger in your garden is a great side benefit and can help you improve your overall health and strength.
But if you don’t let your body fully recover, by not resting enough, you just tear your body down. Trying to work “through the pain” can end up doing more damage that would require even more time resting to recover from. Before you know it, you may have a serious injury that keeps you from being able to reach all your garden goals for the year. Take the time you need to recover from your strenuous work days in the garden. As you get stronger, you may need less time to recover. Listen to your body and when in doubt, make it an easy day.
Resting Improves Clarity
Another benefit of planning adequate rest is that you may be able to think more clearly about any problems you’re encountering in your garden. When you run into a challenge, especially one that is significant, you might want to rush to fix it. You may feel pressure to work harder and longer to make up for the mistake or damage to your garden that the problem has caused. It may even feel like if you don’t fix the issue immediately, all your hard work so far may be ruined. It can be hard to think clearly, especially when the adrenaline is pumping.
But pushing too hard and too fast can actually lead to more mistakes and more problems. If you don’t figure out the root cause of the original problem, your fix could actually make things worse. Taking a break, even a short one, can help you get clarity on the situation. Going back to look at the issue with fresh eyes may allow you to see solutions that you didn’t see before. Or taking a break to do some research, consult an expert, or even just make sure you are properly fed and hydrated can help you solve the problem more effectively. Sometimes working harder is not the solution, but getting rested, finding clarity and working smarter will get you to your goal.
Resting Improves Long Term Health
The last benefit of planning adequate rest is focused more on your long term goals rather than what you might accomplish in your garden each year. Gardening can be a great way to relieve stress, get outside in nature, and exercise your body. But if you work too hard and never rest, it can lead to injury or feeling burnt out. Scheduling rest days into your garden plan. Or listening to your body when you are sore or tired is key to using gardening to improve your long term health.
Gardening and growing your own food can also improve you and your family’s nutrition. Spending time intentionally growing the tastiest, healthiest, most nutrient-dense foods creates a different relationship with your food. Having a nurturing hobby taking care of plants that can, in turn, take care of your body can make you feel better on many different levels, physically and emotionally. But if you work too hard and get burnt out, all those potential health benefits fade away. Treat your rest days as seriously as the rest of your garden plan. Make sure you’re able to keep gardening for years to come.
Looking for tips on what to do when life throws you a curve ball in your garden? Check out my blog post on How to Stick to Your Garden Plan for all my best ideas for making lemonade out of the lemons you might receive. Enjoy!
Ready to set up a new garden plan? Incorporate adequate rest into your plan as you go through the steps I’ve laid out in my done-with-you videos in my Garden Planning Masterclass. You’ll end up with an actionable plan that will get you from seed to harvest!
