Have you ever heard that quote about the "difference between hope and despair being a good night's sleep?"

This past week, while on vacation with my family in San Diego, I could've been a guinea pig in a sleep deprivation study. Due to a combination of factors---late bedtimes and early morning risers; a sleepless baby; and the excitement of much to do---I spent the week tired and unrested. I noticed how much my attitude flagged with my fatigue. On days when I was rested, I felt positive, appreciative towards myself and my body. But when I was tired? I felt dumpy and frazzled.

When we approach something like loving our bodies, it's easy to overestimate the importance of big things, like changing our mental tapes, and underestimate the importance of seemingly little things:  sleep being foremost among them. But sleep isn't a small thing in the overall scheme of mental health. I've learned the hard way that I neglect my basic needs for rest, healthy, whole foods, exercise, time outdoors, and prayer to my own detriment.

Caring for yourself excellently means giving yourself strong roots:  a firm foundation that grounds you. Sleep grounds me. Lack of sleep is one of the quickest ways I become unmoored and fall prey to my inner critic. This situation is common among women, especially working mothers, mothers of young children, and caretakers of older parents:  we are a chronically sleep deprived lot.

This does not bode well for loving your body. If you are tired, you won't have the will power or strength to make choices that empower you. You'll go for the quick fix---the donut; the fast food---because you're too tired to make a meal that meets your need for both taste and nutrition. You won't feel motivated to exercise. You will look in the mirror and see a tired, haggard woman staring back at you. You'll hate everything in your closet. This will not help you appreciate your unique beauty.

We think we can go, go, go and keep pushing ourselves onward and upward. But, if you're like me, your body reaches a point where it won't be pushed anymore. This usually manifests as illness (in this way my body demands the rest it needs) or a feeling that something's amiss; what I call feeling inside-out, as if you're a garment that's turned the wrong way. 

Sleep restores our equilibrium. It restores our optimism, our compassion, and our patience. After a good night's sleep, I saw a different body in the mirror. My body hadn't changed; my attitude, however, had. This is the power of rest.

Have you ever heard that quote about the "difference between hope and despair being a good night's sleep?"

This past week, while on vacation with my family in San Diego, I could've been a guinea pig in a sleep deprivation study. Due to a combination of factors---late bedtimes and early morning risers; a sleepless baby; and the excitement of much to do---I spent the week tired and unrested. I noticed how much my attitude flagged with my fatigue. On days when I was rested, I felt positive, appreciative towards myself and my body. But when I was tired? I felt dumpy and frazzled.

When we approach something like loving our bodies, it's easy to overestimate the importance of big things, like changing our mental tapes, and underestimate the importance of seemingly little things:  sleep being foremost among them. But sleep isn't a small thing in the overall scheme of mental health. I've learned the hard way that I neglect my basic needs for rest, healthy, whole foods, exercise, time outdoors, and prayer to my own detriment.

Caring for yourself excellently means giving yourself strong roots:  a firm foundation that grounds you. Sleep grounds me. Lack of sleep is one of the quickest ways I become unmoored and fall prey to my inner critic. This situation is common among women, especially working mothers, mothers of young children, and caretakers of older parents:  we are a chronically sleep deprived lot.

This does not bode well for loving your body. If you are tired, you won't have the will power or strength to make choices that empower you. You'll go for the quick fix---the donut; the fast food---because you're too tired to make a meal that meets your need for both taste and nutrition. You won't feel motivated to exercise. You will look in the mirror and see a tired, haggard woman staring back at you. You'll hate everything in your closet. This will not help you appreciate your unique beauty.

We think we can go, go, go and keep pushing ourselves onward and upward. But, if you're like me, your body reaches a point where it won't be pushed anymore. This usually manifests as illness (in this way my body demands the rest it needs) or a feeling that something's amiss; what I call feeling inside-out, as if you're a garment that's turned the wrong way. 

Sleep restores our equilibrium. It restores our optimism, our compassion, and our patience. After a good night's sleep, I saw a different body in the mirror. My body hadn't changed; my attitude, however, had. This is the power of rest.