For most of my life, I thought I was good at rest. I slept eight hours most nights. I took vacations when I needed them. I watched Netflix in the evening with a glass of wine and called it “recharging.”

I was fine.

Until I wasn’t.

We’ve talked about the toxic job that tried to steal my joy.

And I won’t spend too much time on it because honestly, it doesn’t deserve any more of my energy — but I have one important thing to say about that toxic job.

It changed my perspective on rest. On recovery. And on setting healthier boundaries around work.

But now that I’ve moved out of the healing era and I’m back to building the SoCurious brand, I’m learning to renegotiate my relationship with rest again.

I just finished the 14-day ADHD Self Care Recharge Challenge with Indy and I’ve got a confession.

I needed it. Desperately.

What I loved about the challenge is that it introduced me to the 7 types of rest identified by Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith.

In today’s issue, I want to introduce you to the 7 types of rest and give myself a rating on each one after two weeks of an intentional self-care reset.

1. Physical Rest (sleep, naps, lying down, gentle movement)

According to the Mayo Clinic, adults need 7 or more hours of sleep per night. And I’ve always been protective of my solid 8.

I have a nighttime routine that involves a hot shower or bath and reading fiction in bed. Usually in less than 10 pages, my eyes are heavy enough to fall asleep.

But thanks to The Nap Ministry, I’ve recently embraced the beautiful joy of napping.

I still feel a little guilty about taking an early afternoon siesta, but I also often work into the late evening — so it’s become easier and easier to give myself grace for existing outside the traditional 9-to-5 schedule and do the thing my body craves most.

The most interesting part of this realization is that when I rest when my body is tired, I often wake up feeling fully rejuvenated and ready to tackle the next thing on the list. It’s the counterintuitive productivity tip that actually works.

My personal score: 8/10

2. Mental Rest (brain breaks from decision-making and problem-solving)

This is where most of my struggles live, if I’m being honest.

Picture this: it’s 8pm. I’m on the couch watching my favorite show. I should be relaxing. Instead, I’m running through tomorrow’s to-do list, replaying a conversation from three months ago, mentally drafting an email I won’t send until morning, and somehow also wondering if I should start a new project.

My brain does not have an off switch.

But in learning to better manage my ADHD, I stumbled on one thing that actually helps tame it — offloading every thought, every idea, every potential to-do onto a sheet of paper to make room in my brain to truly rest.

My personal score: 5/10

3. Sensory Rest (from screens, noise, visual clutter)

One of the things I miss most from my childhood and teenage years is the feeling of being slightly bored. Quiet and understimulated.

So one of my major goals in 2026 has been actively pursuing moments of boredom — giving my brain the opportunity to rest between the meaningful bursts of creativity.

But how do you stay bored in a world where every device wants to pull you into overconsumption?

I’ll be honest, I’m not the best at this yet. But I’ve started choosing the boring option more and more.

Instead of looking at my phone while waiting in line, I allow myself to admire the ambiance of the space I’m in. Instead of taking my phone into the bathroom, I bring a book. And most notably, I allow myself to sit in silence for the majority of the workday.

And yes, I can confirm that being bored is actually pretty delightful. Intentionally having moments where it’s just me and my brain has gone from something I used to dread to something that is remarkably peaceful.

My score: 7/10

4. Creative Rest (consuming instead of creating, experiencing beauty and nature)

As a full-time creative professional, I have to intentionally take time where I force myself not to create so I don’t burn out. Fortunately, I realized this pretty early in my career — so I often use Sunday as a full day off from being a creative human.

Although I sometimes journal, I go out of my way not to come up with new ideas or draw.

Intentionally blocking the flow for small periods of time builds up tension and gives me a Monday where I’m genuinely excited to sit down and write or make a new illustration.

After reading The Artist’s Way, I became obsessed with taking myself on Artist Dates — intentional trips to new spaces that let me interact with art and culture in new ways, just for the sake of doing it. These have included trips to museums, visiting all different types of stores, and allowing myself to be a tourist in my own town.

My score: 9/10

5 & 6. Emotional Rest + Social Rest (space to feel without performing — and people who don’t drain you)

I lump these two together because for me they are deeply interconnected.

Before the spiritual awakening, I hate to admit that too many of my relationships required me to pour from an often empty cup.

But now that I’ve made it through the great transition, I can proudly say that I have cultivated a genuine joy in solitude. Over the past three years, I’ve focused my intention on allowing myself to feel all of my feelings fully.

I’m actually a pretty happy person by nature. But beneath all the “niceness” from my old life, there was so much grief from abandoning myself in order to make other people feel comfortable.

Fortunately, that version of me has been replaced by someone who is truly their own consistent source of love and support. I can sit in solitude and genuinely enjoy my own company.

But that’s also created a new growth opportunity: letting safe, loving, and kind people back in. The process is slow AF — but I’ve been slowly dipping my toe back into building meaningful relationships that don’t require me to perform as a caregiver or someone who ALWAYS has it together.

My score: 7/10

7. Spiritual Rest (reconnection to something bigger, meaning, purpose)

I believe that inherently, we are all searching for meaning in our lives. And for me, my relationship with spirituality has evolved greatly over the past several years.

I went from following a tight and restricted Christian existence to truly decolonizing my faith practices from patriarchy and capitalism. (I feel a little pretentious writing that, but it is true.)

This evolution has been transformative — leading me to learn more about African Spirituality, build a stronger connection with my ancestry, and adopt my own practices that connect me with Christ consciousness: the freedom to be my most authentic self and make space for the people in my life to do the same, free from the judgment I was previously indoctrinated into.

The most beautiful part of this awakening has been a deep and meaningful connection to nature and the planet we inhabit. I genuinely enjoy my long nature walks, talking to the birds and butterflies, and occasionally hugging a tree (after asking for consent, of course).

My score: 9/10

Your turn.

Grab a journal and rate yourself on each of the 7 types of rest — honestly, not aspirationally.

Physical. Mental. Sensory. Creative. Emotional. Social. Spiritual.

Where are you genuinely thriving? Where are you quietly running on empty? And which type of rest have you never even considered before today?

You don’t have to fix everything at once. You just have to start telling yourself the truth about where you are.

Rest isn’t a reward for finishing everything on your list. It never was. And the sooner we stop treating it like one, the better we’ll all be.