I Was Addicted to Being Busy: The 7 Types of Rest That Changed My Life ⭐
Feeling guilty for resting, even when you're exhausted? You're not alone. For years, I believed that staying busy meant I was doing enough.
But after juggling motherhood, a full-time career, writing a book, launching a podcast, and trying to do it all, my body had a different message. When a sudden bout of vertigo forced me to stop, I realized I wasn't just tired—I was depleted.
In this episode, I share how the concept of the seven types of rest transformed the way I think about productivity, self-care, and what it means to live a balanced life. Inspired by Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith's book Sacred Rest, I explore the different ways we become exhausted—and the kinds of rest that truly restore us.
You'll hear about:
• The health scare that became my wake-up call
• Why sleep alone wasn't solving my exhaustion
• The 7 types of rest and how to recognize what you're missing
• What happened when I completely unplugged during a family trip to Hawaii
• How I learned to stop measuring every moment by productivity
If you've ever felt guilty for slowing down, struggled to disconnect, or found yourself constantly chasing the next accomplishment, this episode is for you.
Sometimes the most productive thing we can do is rest.
Because freedom isn't found in doing more—it's found in knowing what is enough.
What are you still chasing—and what would happen if you decided you already had enough?
If this episode resonated with you, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who may be chasing a number that keeps moving farther away.
The world will always ask for more, but you get to decide what's enough.
New episodes of Freedom of Enough drop every Tuesday.
Resources & Links
Check out my website: www.freedomofenough.com
Follow Kim on Instagram: @kimcpatten
Audiobook and hard copy of Pivot: available now on Amazon
Download 7 Mistakes High-Achieving Women Make When Facing a Life-Changing Decision
Sacred Rest : Recover Your Life, Renew Your Energy, Restore Your Sanity
00:09
exhausted by the moving goalposts of success? Do you hit your biggest goals only to feel like you have reached a new zero instead of a finish line? I'm Kim Patten, the Pivot Mom and author of Pivot.
00:25
I spent years chasing them more until I realized that if we don't define our own finish lines, the world will gladly define them for us. This is the freedom of enough, a space where we deconstruct the quiet pressure of modern life to explore the intersection of ambition, money, and identity. is time to stop building rockets to space and start living in the world you have already built. Let's find out what enough
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actually look like, starting now.
01:07
Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? Are you depending on coffee to wake up and sleeping it to pass out? In today's episode, I want to talk about the importance of rest. And I don't want us to wait for something drastic like a car accident or vertical to realize we need to rest. I used to have an addition to BZ.
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While publishing my book, working full time and chasing two little ones, I feel like every single second had to be useful. If I wasn't mothering, I was writing. If I wasn't writing, I was working. I couldn't even give myself time to eat or just go for a walk or bathroom even sometimes. Every single second needs to count for something productive for my own definition.
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I was getting sick a lot, but I just keep on going. The one day my whole world was spinning. Like, I mean, literally when I got up, I felt dizzy. Okay. So I'll lay down for a second because that's all I allow myself to do. Then I'll get up again. Oh, I'm still dizzy. That's when I know something is wrong. I never felt this way before.
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I guess it's what people said what vertical feels like. Oh, my body was crying for help because I have been running on empty tanks for so long. And this put me on a commission for a whole weekend. I was playing on spending that weekend with my kids, but I couldn't do that because my body needed rest. was alarm. My body was crying out.
03:00
to me. Change now or you will be too sick to be the mom you want to be. My therapist had been telling me I really need to take time to rest, schedule time to rest. And she recommended this book, Sacred Rest. And this experience with the Vertigo made me realize I got to really read this book.
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and prioritized this resting. So I started reading the book and I learned that it's not just about sleep. There's so much more about the activities we do during the day. Dr. Dalton Smith says, there are seven different kinds of rest. Have you ever felt like you're more tired after watching TV all day or sleeping all day?
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It is because a lot of the rest we need are actually active rest. When I look at my life, I realized I was deficient in different rest at different times. And here is what I Physical rest. I'm a mom and I carry 35 pounds taller every day. My body was sore and tense. And how often do we take time to stretch and let those arms rest?
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During the days I'm just too tired to exercise, I thought exercise will make me more tired. But then I learned that the right intensity actually gives me more energy and help me sleep better at night. Mental rest. So just because our body is tired, but if our minds are busy during the day, it could carry into our sleep and keep us awake at night. So for me, meditation has been really helpful.
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to stop my brain from thinking about something for just a little while. And this actually stopped the loop of never ending thoughts that our busy minds are doing. Sensory rest. And this is actually really huge for me because between the kids yelling, whining, and me staring at screens at work or on my phone, my senses were fried.
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This is why the vertigo happened. I needed to unplug the noise. It's like when we're trying on perfume in the department stores. We have to reset our senses with coffee beans. And sometimes solitude and complete silence is what we need. I also love touching the leaves, the flowers.
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close my eyes and feel the winds, smell the manolia trees on my front porch. I also love to just sit and watch the lake water being gently moved by the wind. It truly is the most freaky things for me in this world full of noises.
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I also spend time gardening, even though it's not the most productive thing on my list, but it's the one thing that returned my senses to the purest and nature does that to me. Creative rest.
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Writing my book was my passion, but at some point it started feeling like a job. I will work on it from before sun up to after sun down. The reason is I couldn't sleep because I was thinking about it so much. So I will get up at 3 a.m. to work on it. At some point I had to stop talking about it and thinking about it. I needed to take a break from it to paint a rock, a canvas, just
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do something different, a different creative channel instead of the constant same one that's burning me out. Then after a while, my love for writing returns. It just needs constant adjustment of the balance to how much is enough and how much is too much. Emotional rest. So I feel with social media these days, we see others on realistic sides and think
07:24
We should also be performing and be perfect. As a mom, I'm trying to be strong and loving, even though sometimes I'm feeling sad or depleted inside. We need to have a space to feel emotional safe, to be our true selves and not be a people pleaser. I look forward to my appointment with my therapist, writing my blog and journaling because that is my safe place to say I'm actually not.
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okay right now and it's actually a healthy thing to do. Social rest. So the author also mentions this doesn't mean being in solitude because too much alone time is not good for us. I guess that's all depending on the person but she's speaking about distinguishing between the people who drain us and the people who fill us up.
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Sometimes social rest means just being with my family and best friends without the pressure of the outside world. I remember I took a solo trip before marrying my husband to Hawaii. And although it was nice doing everything I wanted on my own schedule, after a couple of days, I was so bored and I couldn't wait to get home so I can hang out with others.
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And honestly, now I have my own family. I love going on vacation with my kids and my husband. And I just can't see that a solo trip will work for me anymore. And I definitely agree with the author that having a supportive social group is definitely important for our wellbeing. And
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Sometimes what we need is just to spend time with people we love and who love us. And then there is spiritual rest. So if you're religious, you will know that God worked for six days to create the earth and rested one day and call it the Sabbath day. It is the day that we don't work. We don't create just being and not doing. And of course I find this very difficult.
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to define that fine line, even teaching our children about what is okay to do and what's not okay to do. Because it's not that we just lay down and sleep all day, but we do go to church, we do pray, we do talk to our family, and we ponder spiritual topics and discussions, and we spend time with people we love. And sometimes there's also service projects.
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It is also a day without entertainment, TV programs, listening to pop music, just a day to fill our soul with a being that's higher than ourselves and think about others. So how to figure out what rest you need the most. I personally think is to identify how much you're doing or not doing from each of the seven categories because
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Each of them are essential for a well-balanced life. I want to share a personal experience. When my family went to Hawaii for two weeks last year, I decided it was the best time to reset my bad cycle of busyness. I told myself, I cannot tell moms to enjoy their families if I'm killing myself over doing ways too much and didn't spend the precious time with my own kids and family.
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I completely unplug from social media and anything work and book related during those two weeks. Then I realized I needed that sensory rest and creative rest desperately. I had to reset my entire can slow down mindset. It felt nice the first couple of days. Then I thought, I'm going to fall behind if I take even longer break.
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from marketing my brand on social media. But I told myself my health and time away with my family is way more important than anything else. And you know what? I came back with a balanced look at my workload. I started scheduling breaks in my days and enjoying breaks after accomplishments such as finishing up my audio book recording.
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instead of immediately jump into something else. True to be told, I initially wanted to air and publish this podcast months ago, but I didn't want to rush into something just because I feel like I need to right now, but wait until because I actually want to do it. I realized life isn't about doing, it's also about being, knowing and seeing.
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And what I learned is that when passive rest is important, productive rest is actually necessary as well. It is definitely not about being lazy or just laying in front of the TV all day. It's about replenishing so you can keep being the person you were meant to be. Ask yourself today, do you know what kind of rest you need the most?
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Do you know your priorities well enough to say no gracefully to things that don't excite you? I really recommend picking up Sacred Rest. This book helped me realize that if I don't take a break, then my body will force me to break. And we don't have to wait for the world to spin, then give ourselves permission to stop.
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We are allowed to rest and to just be. We are allowed to find balance in being and doing. I do hope you take that walk today. Your future self will thank you for it.
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To those of you who have already left a review or sent me a message, thank you. Your stories inspire me to keep this conversation going. If this episode inspired you today.
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please subscribe and share it with one friend who needs to hear this message. Then please just take one minute to leave a review. It only takes a moment, but the impact is way bigger because it helps others find their way to their own finish line. If you would like to learn more about these pivots, visit me on my website, freedomofenough.com. Until next time.
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Remember, the world will always ask for more, but you get to decide what enough looks like. Thank you for joining me on Freedom of Enough. I am Kim Patton, and I will see you next Tuesday.