I was just thinking...

As 2008 came to a close I was reminded in a very painful way the importance of rest.  It is a simple thing and yet I struggle with it.  During my younger years I could go for days without stopping to rest, and I used to pride myself on the fact that I could get by with only 4 hours of sleep, anything more than that seemed like a waste to me. Even when I would lay down to sleep, my mind would be hard at work, laying out plans for the next day. 

Well that was more than twenty years ago when I could get away with crazy things like that.  These days it's like my 40 year old body is telling me that it needs proper rest.  Most of the time I ignore it though, and for a short time it seems like I can still get away with just a few hours of sleep...but then it all catches up with me and before it is all over I end up spending several days in bed trying to recover.  Such was the case the past few weeks.

I had been suffering from a sinus headache, the doctors gave me some antibiotics and decongestants to take, but it seemed like I just couldn't shake the sinus infection.  When my condition seemed to be worsening, my wife (who is always right) told me what the real problem was/is, and that was lack of proper rest.  I wanted to disagree with her, but I couldn't come up with anything to prove her wrong (besides, she is always right), so I went along with her diagnosis and cleared my schedule for the next day, didn't bother setting any alarms and simply slept in.

It's amazing because I actually felt better after getting some rest.  Rest is a good thing, and from here on out I am going to make sure that I get plenty of it.  Now that I think about it, I wont be able to do anyone any good if I allow myself to become run down to the point that I am unable to do anything, so it is in my own best interest to get plenty of rest.  Besides the body is a temple and it's time I started treating it like one.

How about you, do you get enough rest?