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The 7 Types of Rest Librarians Actually Need and How to Get Them
I know many of us are struggling right now. Things are rough out there for libraries and for us as people living in the world. When we think about self-care or rest, most of us default to the physical, things like getting enough sleep, maybe squeezing in a workout, or taking a vacation day. And those things matter. But if you’re someone who sleeps eight hours a night, takes your lunch away from your desk, and still feels depleted? You’re not doing self-care wrong. You might be missing the other six types of rest your body and mind need.
There are seven distinct types of rest that we all need to function well. The problem is that we tend to focus on one or two while completely neglecting the others. Sometimes it is because we forget that there is more than one way to rest, sometimes it is because we don’t have a choice.
You know, when I talk about the research around healthy work environments and well-being at work that so many of the conditions that lead to rest deficits aren’t individual problems; they’re organizational ones. This isn’t about librarians needing to be better at self-care. It’s about library workplaces creating conditions where rest is possible.
Let’s look at the seven types and what they look like specifically in library work.
1. Physical Rest: Beyond Sleep and Exercise
Physical rest includes both passive rest (sleep, napping) and active rest (restorative movement like stretching, yoga, or massage). Most of us understand this type of rest, even if we don’t always get enough of it.
What it looks like in libraries: Standing at service desks for hours without breaks. Shelving carts of books. Sitting through back-to-back meetings in uncomfortable chairs. Working split shifts with long commutes. Being expected to come in when you’re sick because there’s no coverage.
What helps: Adequate sleep and vacation time, yes. But also, ergonomic workstations, permission to take actual breaks, and gentle movement during the day.
The institutional piece: Here’s where organizational responsibility comes in. Libraries need staffing levels that allow people to take breaks without guilt. They need to plan for absences during cold and flu season instead of expecting people to work through illness. They need to provide ergonomic equipment without making staff jump through hoops to get it.
The personal piece: I’m someone who prioritizes sleep. Because I’ve struggle with sleep for years, I have good sleep hygiene. But I have had to learned that physical rest also means listening to my body during the day. Sometimes that means doing gentle stretches between video calls. It means using my lunch break to move my body instead of eating at my desk while answering emails. And sometimes it means admitting I need to take a sick day instead of pushing through because I think I should be able to handle it. The older I get, the more I realize that ignoring what my body is telling me just leads to longer recovery times.
2. Mental Rest: When Your Brain Won’t Turn Off
Mental rest is about giving your mind a break from constant decision-making, problem-solving, and information processing. You know you need mental rest when you can’t stop thinking about work, when your brain feels foggy, or when you’re making unusual mistakes.
What it looks like in libraries: Fielding complex reference questions back-to-back. Troubleshooting technology problems all day. Managing competing priorities with inadequate time. Keeping track of multiple projects while being constantly interrupted. Making decisions about collection development, programming, and budgets, often with limited resources and high stakes.
What helps: Short breaks during the workday. Time to think without interruption. Journaling to offload racing thoughts. Mindfulness practices. Even just five minutes of sitting quietly between tasks.
The institutional piece: Libraries need to build in transition time between programs and meetings. They need to create spaces, physical and temporal, where staff can work without interruption. They need to reduce the expectation that everyone should be immediately available at all times. Stop scheduling meetings back-to-back. Stop treating “busy” as a badge of honor.
The personal piece: You know you need mental rest when you’re lying in bed mentally drafting emails or replaying difficult conversations. Journaling before bed can help, not pretty journaling, just brain dumping everything onto paper so it’s not rattling around in your head all night. Try building in a transition time between different types of work. Schedule meetings for 45 minutes or 30 instead of 1 hour. Start meetings a quarter after or 30 minutes passed the hour to help build in breaks for attendees. After a complex project, do something mindless for ten minutes before jumping into the next thing. Your brain needs that reset, even if it feels inefficient in the moment.
3. Sensory Rest: Relief from Overstimulation
We live in a world of constant stimulation, and libraries are no exception. Sensory rest means reducing the input your senses are constantly processing, the screens, the noise, the fluorescent lights, the visual clutter.
What it looks like in libraries: Multiple computer monitors. Fluorescent lighting. Background noise from patrons, phones, printers, and HVAC systems. Too much time on a service desk with no access to a quiet space to decompress. Open floor plans where there’s no escape from stimulation. Being on Zoom calls all day, where you’re constantly watching yourself on screen.
What helps: Stepping away from screens periodically. Close your eyes for a few minutes. Spending time in quiet spaces. Dimming lights when possible. Using noise-canceling headphones in open workspaces (if your role allows).
The institutional piece: Libraries should provide break spaces that aren’t just repurposed storage closets with a microwave, with furniture that was deemed too gross or old for patrons. Create quiet spaces where staff can decompress. Consider lighting options beyond harsh fluorescents. Acknowledge that open office plans, while cost-effective, create sensory overload for many people. And please, stop scheduling full-day video conferences without adequate breaks.
The personal piece: You might not realize how much sensory overload is affecting you until you have a contrast. Many librarians discovered this during the pandemic when working from home. The difference between an open office environment and a quieter home space can be stark. Even when you’re working, be more intentional about reducing sensory input. Close unnecessary browser tabs. Turn off Outlook notifications during focus time. Take your glasses off and close your eyes for a few minutes when you feel that overstimulated buzzing in your head. Take your lunch away from your desk. Get out of the building and experience nature, look up at the sky, even for a few minutes. Look out a window. These seem like small things, but they make a real difference in how depleted you feel at the end of the day.
4. Emotional Rest: Permission to Be Real
Emotional rest is about having the space to express your authentic feelings instead of performing emotional labor constantly. It’s the freedom to say “I’m struggling” without immediately having to reassure everyone that you’re fine.
What it looks like in libraries: Maintaining a pleasant demeanor with difficult patrons. Absorbing community distress, about book challenges, about access to resources, about homelessness, about technology barriers. Managing up when you disagree with administrative decisions. Suppressing frustration when policies don’t serve patrons’ needs or when local, state, or national politics interfere with intellectual freedom or other professional values and ethics. Performing “niceness” even when you’re dealing with harassment or unreasonable demands. All of these involve emotional labor and often invisible labor.
What helps: Having people you can be honest with about how you’re really feeling. Setting boundaries with emotionally draining situations. Processing difficult interactions instead of stuffing them down.
The institutional piece: This is huge. Libraries need to move beyond the veneer of niceness that makes it impossible to address real problems. They need psychological safety, environments where staff can voice concerns without fear of being labeled “negative” or “not a team player.” They need clear protocols for handling abusive patron behavior instead of expecting staff to just absorb it. They need to acknowledge that emotional labor is real work and stop treating it as an expected personality trait, especially for women and people of color. It is important to ensure staff have downtime away from patrons and coworkers in a private space to allow staff to process emotions without masking. Make sure tasks that involve emotional labor are not piled on to one person or a small group. Look at policies and practices to help distribute invisible labor equally.
The personal piece: This is the type of rest many of us struggle with most, especially those of us who are “fixers”; we see problems and want to solve them, or we see something that needs to be done and we do it. But that means we often don’t give ourselves space to feel frustrated or sad or angry about workplace challenges. You don’t have to immediately move to problem-solving mode. Sometimes things just suck, and you need to acknowledge that before you can move forward. Be selective about who you process difficult situations with; some people help you feel heard, while others inadvertently make you feel like you need to manage their reactions to your feelings.
5. Social Rest: Recharging Your Social Battery
Social rest isn’t about being anti-social; it’s about balancing draining social interactions with restorative ones. It’s the difference between being “on” all the time and having a real connection.
What it looks like in libraries: Being in public-facing roles all day. Attending committee meetings. Making small talk at community events. Navigating workplace relationships and politics. Dealing with interpersonal conflicts. For introverts, neurodiverse people, and people in minority groups, even positive social interactions can be depleting without adequate recovery time.
What helps: Time alone to recharge. Saying no to optional social events when you need to. Spending time with people who energize rather than drain you. Having control over when and how you engage socially.
The institutional piece: Stop making attendance at social events outside of work hours feel mandatory. Respect that different people have different social needs. There are many reasons people may not work to socialize outside of work, that does not mean they are antisocial or unfriendly. They just need different conditions to thrive. And it might mean they have healthier boundaries. Reduce the number of meetings that could be emails. Create roles that balance public interaction with behind-the-scenes work. And please, stop using “culture fit” as code for “people who want to hang out together outside of work.” This leads to favoritism and bias.
The personal piece: Librarians work in a profession that requires significant social engagement. For years, you might have thought something was wrong with you because you felt exhausted after days that other people found energizing. Understanding that social rest is a real need can be liberating. It doesn’t matter if you’re an introvert or extrovert, neurodiverse or neurotypical. Be honest about your capacity. Don’t attend every optional event. Build in alone time after intense social periods. And stop feeling guilty about it, this isn’t antisocial behavior; it’s self-awareness about what you need to show up as your best self.
6. Creative Rest: Replenishing Your Capacity for Innovation
Creative rest is about appreciating beauty and inspiration without the pressure to produce something. It’s what we need when we’re experiencing creative fatigue, when every brainstorming session feels like pulling teeth, when we can’t think of one more way to make storytime engaging.
What it looks like in libraries: Constantly developing new programs. Creating displays. Solving problems with limited resources. Being expected to “innovate” without the time, space, or resources to actually be creative. Sitting through another meeting where you’re asked to “think outside the box” while still operating inside very rigid constraints.
What helps: Engaging with art, music, or nature without having to do anything with it. Reading for pleasure instead of professional development. Visiting museums. Taking a walk and actually looking at things. Giving yourself permission to consume creativity instead of always producing it.
The institutional piece: Libraries need to stop treating creativity as something you can turn on and off like a faucet. Innovation requires space, literal time, and mental bandwidth to explore ideas without immediate pressure to implement them. Professional development budgets shouldn’t just cover conferences; they should cover museum memberships, art supplies, and subscriptions to creative magazines. And please, stop asking staff to be creative while simultaneously micromanaging every detail of their work.
The personal piece: Some library roles feel like they require constant creativity and problem-solving, and there are times when you’ll feel completely tapped out. What helps is separating consumption from production. Read fiction without thinking about programming ideas. Visit art museums without photographing everything for social media. Cook without documenting it. You need to fill the creative well before you can draw from it, and that means sometimes just appreciating beauty or creativity without turning it into work. Be present in what you’re doing.
7. Spiritual Rest: Connecting to Something Bigger
Spiritual rest, whether through religion, meditation, purpose, or community, is about feeling connected to something beyond yourself. It’s not necessarily religious; it’s about meaning and belonging.
What it looks like in libraries: Experiencing a disconnect between your values and institutional policies. Being asked to enforce rules you don’t believe serve your community. Feeling like your work doesn’t matter or isn’t valued. Losing sight of why you became a librarian in the first place, because you’re drowning in bureaucracy or fighting book challenges.
What helps: Connecting with your library’s mission in tangible ways. Volunteering for causes you care about. Meditation or prayer if that’s meaningful to you. Spending time in communities where you feel you belong. Reconnecting with the “why” of your work.
The institutional piece: This is where value alignment becomes critical. When libraries require staff to enforce policies that contradict core professional values and ethics, whether around intellectual freedom, privacy, or equitable access, they create spiritual distress. When librarians are forced to compromise their beliefs about serving their community, when good work goes unrecognized, when mission statements ring hollow because actions don’t match words, that’s a recipe for moral injury, not just burnout.
The personal piece: Spiritual rest can come from connecting with why you do this work in the first place. When you’re feeling burned out or cynical, create opportunities to reconnect with libraries’ impact on people’s lives, read thank-you notes from patrons, talk with colleagues about meaningful interactions they’ve had, or volunteer in ways that remind you of the difference this profession makes. Find spiritual rest in nature, in faith or spiritual communities if that’s meaningful to you, or in groups where you can show up as your whole self, not just the professional version. Those connections remind you that you’re part of something bigger than any single frustration or challenge.
Moving Beyond Individual Self-Care
Here’s what I want you to take away from this: if you’re experiencing exhaustion despite taking care of yourself physically, you’re not failing at self-care. You are probably neglecting one or more of the other types of rest, and often because your workplace makes it nearly impossible to get them.
I’ve attended too many conference sessions and workshops or seen online courses that tell library workers how to individually prevent burnout through better self-care. But burnout isn’t an individual problem; it’s an organizational one. All seven types of rest require not just personal choices but institutional support.
So yes, look at where you might be neglecting certain types of rest. Build time for mental quiet, emotional authenticity, social recharging, creative play, and spiritual connection. But also? Advocate for workplaces that make rest possible. Push back on policies and cultures that deplete you faster than you can recover.
Because the truth is, we can’t yoga and meditate our way out of systemic workplace problems. Real rest requires real change, at the organizational level, not just the individual one.
#7TypesOfRest #burnout #health #healthyWorkplace #mentalHealth #psychologicalSafety #selfCare #sevenTypesOfRest #wellness #workplaceWellbeing
-
The 7 Types of Rest Librarians Actually Need and How to Get Them
I know many of us are struggling right now. Things are rough out there for libraries and for us as people living in the world. When we think about self-care or rest, most of us default to the physical, things like getting enough sleep, maybe squeezing in a workout, or taking a vacation day. And those things matter. But if you’re someone who sleeps eight hours a night, takes your lunch away from your desk, and still feels depleted? You’re not doing self-care wrong. You might be missing the other six types of rest your body and mind need.
There are seven distinct types of rest that we all need to function well. The problem is that we tend to focus on one or two while completely neglecting the others. Sometimes it is because we forget that there is more than one way to rest, sometimes it is because we don’t have a choice.
You know, when I talk about the research around healthy work environments and well-being at work that so many of the conditions that lead to rest deficits aren’t individual problems; they’re organizational ones. This isn’t about librarians needing to be better at self-care. It’s about library workplaces creating conditions where rest is possible.
Let’s look at the seven types and what they look like specifically in library work.
1. Physical Rest: Beyond Sleep and Exercise
Physical rest includes both passive rest (sleep, napping) and active rest (restorative movement like stretching, yoga, or massage). Most of us understand this type of rest, even if we don’t always get enough of it.
What it looks like in libraries: Standing at service desks for hours without breaks. Shelving carts of books. Sitting through back-to-back meetings in uncomfortable chairs. Working split shifts with long commutes. Being expected to come in when you’re sick because there’s no coverage.
What helps: Adequate sleep and vacation time, yes. But also, ergonomic workstations, permission to take actual breaks, and gentle movement during the day.
The institutional piece: Here’s where organizational responsibility comes in. Libraries need staffing levels that allow people to take breaks without guilt. They need to plan for absences during cold and flu season instead of expecting people to work through illness. They need to provide ergonomic equipment without making staff jump through hoops to get it.
The personal piece: I’m someone who prioritizes sleep. Because I’ve struggle with sleep for years, I have good sleep hygiene. But I have had to learned that physical rest also means listening to my body during the day. Sometimes that means doing gentle stretches between video calls. It means using my lunch break to move my body instead of eating at my desk while answering emails. And sometimes it means admitting I need to take a sick day instead of pushing through because I think I should be able to handle it. The older I get, the more I realize that ignoring what my body is telling me just leads to longer recovery times.
2. Mental Rest: When Your Brain Won’t Turn Off
Mental rest is about giving your mind a break from constant decision-making, problem-solving, and information processing. You know you need mental rest when you can’t stop thinking about work, when your brain feels foggy, or when you’re making unusual mistakes.
What it looks like in libraries: Fielding complex reference questions back-to-back. Troubleshooting technology problems all day. Managing competing priorities with inadequate time. Keeping track of multiple projects while being constantly interrupted. Making decisions about collection development, programming, and budgets, often with limited resources and high stakes.
What helps: Short breaks during the workday. Time to think without interruption. Journaling to offload racing thoughts. Mindfulness practices. Even just five minutes of sitting quietly between tasks.
The institutional piece: Libraries need to build in transition time between programs and meetings. They need to create spaces, physical and temporal, where staff can work without interruption. They need to reduce the expectation that everyone should be immediately available at all times. Stop scheduling meetings back-to-back. Stop treating “busy” as a badge of honor.
The personal piece: You know you need mental rest when you’re lying in bed mentally drafting emails or replaying difficult conversations. Journaling before bed can help, not pretty journaling, just brain dumping everything onto paper so it’s not rattling around in your head all night. Try building in a transition time between different types of work. Schedule meetings for 45 minutes or 30 instead of 1 hour. Start meetings a quarter after or 30 minutes passed the hour to help build in breaks for attendees. After a complex project, do something mindless for ten minutes before jumping into the next thing. Your brain needs that reset, even if it feels inefficient in the moment.
3. Sensory Rest: Relief from Overstimulation
We live in a world of constant stimulation, and libraries are no exception. Sensory rest means reducing the input your senses are constantly processing, the screens, the noise, the fluorescent lights, the visual clutter.
What it looks like in libraries: Multiple computer monitors. Fluorescent lighting. Background noise from patrons, phones, printers, and HVAC systems. Too much time on a service desk with no access to a quiet space to decompress. Open floor plans where there’s no escape from stimulation. Being on Zoom calls all day, where you’re constantly watching yourself on screen.
What helps: Stepping away from screens periodically. Close your eyes for a few minutes. Spending time in quiet spaces. Dimming lights when possible. Using noise-canceling headphones in open workspaces (if your role allows).
The institutional piece: Libraries should provide break spaces that aren’t just repurposed storage closets with a microwave, with furniture that was deemed too gross or old for patrons. Create quiet spaces where staff can decompress. Consider lighting options beyond harsh fluorescents. Acknowledge that open office plans, while cost-effective, create sensory overload for many people. And please, stop scheduling full-day video conferences without adequate breaks.
The personal piece: You might not realize how much sensory overload is affecting you until you have a contrast. Many librarians discovered this during the pandemic when working from home. The difference between an open office environment and a quieter home space can be stark. Even when you’re working, be more intentional about reducing sensory input. Close unnecessary browser tabs. Turn off Outlook notifications during focus time. Take your glasses off and close your eyes for a few minutes when you feel that overstimulated buzzing in your head. Take your lunch away from your desk. Get out of the building and experience nature, look up at the sky, even for a few minutes. Look out a window. These seem like small things, but they make a real difference in how depleted you feel at the end of the day.
4. Emotional Rest: Permission to Be Real
Emotional rest is about having the space to express your authentic feelings instead of performing emotional labor constantly. It’s the freedom to say “I’m struggling” without immediately having to reassure everyone that you’re fine.
What it looks like in libraries: Maintaining a pleasant demeanor with difficult patrons. Absorbing community distress, about book challenges, about access to resources, about homelessness, about technology barriers. Managing up when you disagree with administrative decisions. Suppressing frustration when policies don’t serve patrons’ needs or when local, state, or national politics interfere with intellectual freedom or other professional values and ethics. Performing “niceness” even when you’re dealing with harassment or unreasonable demands. All of these involve emotional labor and often invisible labor.
What helps: Having people you can be honest with about how you’re really feeling. Setting boundaries with emotionally draining situations. Processing difficult interactions instead of stuffing them down.
The institutional piece: This is huge. Libraries need to move beyond the veneer of niceness that makes it impossible to address real problems. They need psychological safety, environments where staff can voice concerns without fear of being labeled “negative” or “not a team player.” They need clear protocols for handling abusive patron behavior instead of expecting staff to just absorb it. They need to acknowledge that emotional labor is real work and stop treating it as an expected personality trait, especially for women and people of color. It is important to ensure staff have downtime away from patrons and coworkers in a private space to allow staff to process emotions without masking. Make sure tasks that involve emotional labor are not piled on to one person or a small group. Look at policies and practices to help distribute invisible labor equally.
The personal piece: This is the type of rest many of us struggle with most, especially those of us who are “fixers”; we see problems and want to solve them, or we see something that needs to be done and we do it. But that means we often don’t give ourselves space to feel frustrated or sad or angry about workplace challenges. You don’t have to immediately move to problem-solving mode. Sometimes things just suck, and you need to acknowledge that before you can move forward. Be selective about who you process difficult situations with; some people help you feel heard, while others inadvertently make you feel like you need to manage their reactions to your feelings.
5. Social Rest: Recharging Your Social Battery
Social rest isn’t about being anti-social; it’s about balancing draining social interactions with restorative ones. It’s the difference between being “on” all the time and having a real connection.
What it looks like in libraries: Being in public-facing roles all day. Attending committee meetings. Making small talk at community events. Navigating workplace relationships and politics. Dealing with interpersonal conflicts. For introverts, neurodiverse people, and people in minority groups, even positive social interactions can be depleting without adequate recovery time.
What helps: Time alone to recharge. Saying no to optional social events when you need to. Spending time with people who energize rather than drain you. Having control over when and how you engage socially.
The institutional piece: Stop making attendance at social events outside of work hours feel mandatory. Respect that different people have different social needs. There are many reasons people may not work to socialize outside of work, that does not mean they are antisocial or unfriendly. They just need different conditions to thrive. And it might mean they have healthier boundaries. Reduce the number of meetings that could be emails. Create roles that balance public interaction with behind-the-scenes work. And please, stop using “culture fit” as code for “people who want to hang out together outside of work.” This leads to favoritism and bias.
The personal piece: Librarians work in a profession that requires significant social engagement. For years, you might have thought something was wrong with you because you felt exhausted after days that other people found energizing. Understanding that social rest is a real need can be liberating. It doesn’t matter if you’re an introvert or extrovert, neurodiverse or neurotypical. Be honest about your capacity. Don’t attend every optional event. Build in alone time after intense social periods. And stop feeling guilty about it, this isn’t antisocial behavior; it’s self-awareness about what you need to show up as your best self.
6. Creative Rest: Replenishing Your Capacity for Innovation
Creative rest is about appreciating beauty and inspiration without the pressure to produce something. It’s what we need when we’re experiencing creative fatigue, when every brainstorming session feels like pulling teeth, when we can’t think of one more way to make storytime engaging.
What it looks like in libraries: Constantly developing new programs. Creating displays. Solving problems with limited resources. Being expected to “innovate” without the time, space, or resources to actually be creative. Sitting through another meeting where you’re asked to “think outside the box” while still operating inside very rigid constraints.
What helps: Engaging with art, music, or nature without having to do anything with it. Reading for pleasure instead of professional development. Visiting museums. Taking a walk and actually looking at things. Giving yourself permission to consume creativity instead of always producing it.
The institutional piece: Libraries need to stop treating creativity as something you can turn on and off like a faucet. Innovation requires space, literal time, and mental bandwidth to explore ideas without immediate pressure to implement them. Professional development budgets shouldn’t just cover conferences; they should cover museum memberships, art supplies, and subscriptions to creative magazines. And please, stop asking staff to be creative while simultaneously micromanaging every detail of their work.
The personal piece: Some library roles feel like they require constant creativity and problem-solving, and there are times when you’ll feel completely tapped out. What helps is separating consumption from production. Read fiction without thinking about programming ideas. Visit art museums without photographing everything for social media. Cook without documenting it. You need to fill the creative well before you can draw from it, and that means sometimes just appreciating beauty or creativity without turning it into work. Be present in what you’re doing.
7. Spiritual Rest: Connecting to Something Bigger
Spiritual rest, whether through religion, meditation, purpose, or community, is about feeling connected to something beyond yourself. It’s not necessarily religious; it’s about meaning and belonging.
What it looks like in libraries: Experiencing a disconnect between your values and institutional policies. Being asked to enforce rules you don’t believe serve your community. Feeling like your work doesn’t matter or isn’t valued. Losing sight of why you became a librarian in the first place, because you’re drowning in bureaucracy or fighting book challenges.
What helps: Connecting with your library’s mission in tangible ways. Volunteering for causes you care about. Meditation or prayer if that’s meaningful to you. Spending time in communities where you feel you belong. Reconnecting with the “why” of your work.
The institutional piece: This is where value alignment becomes critical. When libraries require staff to enforce policies that contradict core professional values and ethics, whether around intellectual freedom, privacy, or equitable access, they create spiritual distress. When librarians are forced to compromise their beliefs about serving their community, when good work goes unrecognized, when mission statements ring hollow because actions don’t match words, that’s a recipe for moral injury, not just burnout.
The personal piece: Spiritual rest can come from connecting with why you do this work in the first place. When you’re feeling burned out or cynical, create opportunities to reconnect with libraries’ impact on people’s lives, read thank-you notes from patrons, talk with colleagues about meaningful interactions they’ve had, or volunteer in ways that remind you of the difference this profession makes. Find spiritual rest in nature, in faith or spiritual communities if that’s meaningful to you, or in groups where you can show up as your whole self, not just the professional version. Those connections remind you that you’re part of something bigger than any single frustration or challenge.
Moving Beyond Individual Self-Care
Here’s what I want you to take away from this: if you’re experiencing exhaustion despite taking care of yourself physically, you’re not failing at self-care. You are probably neglecting one or more of the other types of rest, and often because your workplace makes it nearly impossible to get them.
I’ve attended too many conference sessions and workshops or seen online courses that tell library workers how to individually prevent burnout through better self-care. But burnout isn’t an individual problem; it’s an organizational one. All seven types of rest require not just personal choices but institutional support.
So yes, look at where you might be neglecting certain types of rest. Build time for mental quiet, emotional authenticity, social recharging, creative play, and spiritual connection. But also? Advocate for workplaces that make rest possible. Push back on policies and cultures that deplete you faster than you can recover.
Because the truth is, we can’t yoga and meditate our way out of systemic workplace problems. Real rest requires real change, at the organizational level, not just the individual one.
#7TypesOfRest #burnout #health #healthyWorkplace #mentalHealth #psychologicalSafety #selfCare #sevenTypesOfRest #wellness #workplaceWellbeing
-
The 7 Types of Rest Librarians Actually Need and How to Get Them
I know many of us are struggling right now. Things are rough out there for libraries and for us as people living in the world. When we think about self-care or rest, most of us default to the physical, things like getting enough sleep, maybe squeezing in a workout, or taking a vacation day. And those things matter. But if you’re someone who sleeps eight hours a night, takes your lunch away from your desk, and still feels depleted? You’re not doing self-care wrong. You might be missing the other six types of rest your body and mind need.
There are seven distinct types of rest that we all need to function well. The problem is that we tend to focus on one or two while completely neglecting the others. Sometimes it is because we forget that there is more than one way to rest, sometimes it is because we don’t have a choice.
You know, when I talk about the research around healthy work environments and well-being at work that so many of the conditions that lead to rest deficits aren’t individual problems; they’re organizational ones. This isn’t about librarians needing to be better at self-care. It’s about library workplaces creating conditions where rest is possible.
Let’s look at the seven types and what they look like specifically in library work.
1. Physical Rest: Beyond Sleep and Exercise
Physical rest includes both passive rest (sleep, napping) and active rest (restorative movement like stretching, yoga, or massage). Most of us understand this type of rest, even if we don’t always get enough of it.
What it looks like in libraries: Standing at service desks for hours without breaks. Shelving carts of books. Sitting through back-to-back meetings in uncomfortable chairs. Working split shifts with long commutes. Being expected to come in when you’re sick because there’s no coverage.
What helps: Adequate sleep and vacation time, yes. But also, ergonomic workstations, permission to take actual breaks, and gentle movement during the day.
The institutional piece: Here’s where organizational responsibility comes in. Libraries need staffing levels that allow people to take breaks without guilt. They need to plan for absences during cold and flu season instead of expecting people to work through illness. They need to provide ergonomic equipment without making staff jump through hoops to get it.
The personal piece: I’m someone who prioritizes sleep. Because I’ve struggle with sleep for years, I have good sleep hygiene. But I have had to learned that physical rest also means listening to my body during the day. Sometimes that means doing gentle stretches between video calls. It means using my lunch break to move my body instead of eating at my desk while answering emails. And sometimes it means admitting I need to take a sick day instead of pushing through because I think I should be able to handle it. The older I get, the more I realize that ignoring what my body is telling me just leads to longer recovery times.
2. Mental Rest: When Your Brain Won’t Turn Off
Mental rest is about giving your mind a break from constant decision-making, problem-solving, and information processing. You know you need mental rest when you can’t stop thinking about work, when your brain feels foggy, or when you’re making unusual mistakes.
What it looks like in libraries: Fielding complex reference questions back-to-back. Troubleshooting technology problems all day. Managing competing priorities with inadequate time. Keeping track of multiple projects while being constantly interrupted. Making decisions about collection development, programming, and budgets, often with limited resources and high stakes.
What helps: Short breaks during the workday. Time to think without interruption. Journaling to offload racing thoughts. Mindfulness practices. Even just five minutes of sitting quietly between tasks.
The institutional piece: Libraries need to build in transition time between programs and meetings. They need to create spaces, physical and temporal, where staff can work without interruption. They need to reduce the expectation that everyone should be immediately available at all times. Stop scheduling meetings back-to-back. Stop treating “busy” as a badge of honor.
The personal piece: You know you need mental rest when you’re lying in bed mentally drafting emails or replaying difficult conversations. Journaling before bed can help, not pretty journaling, just brain dumping everything onto paper so it’s not rattling around in your head all night. Try building in a transition time between different types of work. Schedule meetings for 45 minutes or 30 instead of 1 hour. Start meetings a quarter after or 30 minutes passed the hour to help build in breaks for attendees. After a complex project, do something mindless for ten minutes before jumping into the next thing. Your brain needs that reset, even if it feels inefficient in the moment.
3. Sensory Rest: Relief from Overstimulation
We live in a world of constant stimulation, and libraries are no exception. Sensory rest means reducing the input your senses are constantly processing, the screens, the noise, the fluorescent lights, the visual clutter.
What it looks like in libraries: Multiple computer monitors. Fluorescent lighting. Background noise from patrons, phones, printers, and HVAC systems. Too much time on a service desk with no access to a quiet space to decompress. Open floor plans where there’s no escape from stimulation. Being on Zoom calls all day, where you’re constantly watching yourself on screen.
What helps: Stepping away from screens periodically. Close your eyes for a few minutes. Spending time in quiet spaces. Dimming lights when possible. Using noise-canceling headphones in open workspaces (if your role allows).
The institutional piece: Libraries should provide break spaces that aren’t just repurposed storage closets with a microwave, with furniture that was deemed too gross or old for patrons. Create quiet spaces where staff can decompress. Consider lighting options beyond harsh fluorescents. Acknowledge that open office plans, while cost-effective, create sensory overload for many people. And please, stop scheduling full-day video conferences without adequate breaks.
The personal piece: You might not realize how much sensory overload is affecting you until you have a contrast. Many librarians discovered this during the pandemic when working from home. The difference between an open office environment and a quieter home space can be stark. Even when you’re working, be more intentional about reducing sensory input. Close unnecessary browser tabs. Turn off Outlook notifications during focus time. Take your glasses off and close your eyes for a few minutes when you feel that overstimulated buzzing in your head. Take your lunch away from your desk. Get out of the building and experience nature, look up at the sky, even for a few minutes. Look out a window. These seem like small things, but they make a real difference in how depleted you feel at the end of the day.
4. Emotional Rest: Permission to Be Real
Emotional rest is about having the space to express your authentic feelings instead of performing emotional labor constantly. It’s the freedom to say “I’m struggling” without immediately having to reassure everyone that you’re fine.
What it looks like in libraries: Maintaining a pleasant demeanor with difficult patrons. Absorbing community distress, about book challenges, about access to resources, about homelessness, about technology barriers. Managing up when you disagree with administrative decisions. Suppressing frustration when policies don’t serve patrons’ needs or when local, state, or national politics interfere with intellectual freedom or other professional values and ethics. Performing “niceness” even when you’re dealing with harassment or unreasonable demands. All of these involve emotional labor and often invisible labor.
What helps: Having people you can be honest with about how you’re really feeling. Setting boundaries with emotionally draining situations. Processing difficult interactions instead of stuffing them down.
The institutional piece: This is huge. Libraries need to move beyond the veneer of niceness that makes it impossible to address real problems. They need psychological safety, environments where staff can voice concerns without fear of being labeled “negative” or “not a team player.” They need clear protocols for handling abusive patron behavior instead of expecting staff to just absorb it. They need to acknowledge that emotional labor is real work and stop treating it as an expected personality trait, especially for women and people of color. It is important to ensure staff have downtime away from patrons and coworkers in a private space to allow staff to process emotions without masking. Make sure tasks that involve emotional labor are not piled on to one person or a small group. Look at policies and practices to help distribute invisible labor equally.
The personal piece: This is the type of rest many of us struggle with most, especially those of us who are “fixers”; we see problems and want to solve them, or we see something that needs to be done and we do it. But that means we often don’t give ourselves space to feel frustrated or sad or angry about workplace challenges. You don’t have to immediately move to problem-solving mode. Sometimes things just suck, and you need to acknowledge that before you can move forward. Be selective about who you process difficult situations with; some people help you feel heard, while others inadvertently make you feel like you need to manage their reactions to your feelings.
5. Social Rest: Recharging Your Social Battery
Social rest isn’t about being anti-social; it’s about balancing draining social interactions with restorative ones. It’s the difference between being “on” all the time and having a real connection.
What it looks like in libraries: Being in public-facing roles all day. Attending committee meetings. Making small talk at community events. Navigating workplace relationships and politics. Dealing with interpersonal conflicts. For introverts, neurodiverse people, and people in minority groups, even positive social interactions can be depleting without adequate recovery time.
What helps: Time alone to recharge. Saying no to optional social events when you need to. Spending time with people who energize rather than drain you. Having control over when and how you engage socially.
The institutional piece: Stop making attendance at social events outside of work hours feel mandatory. Respect that different people have different social needs. There are many reasons people may not work to socialize outside of work, that does not mean they are antisocial or unfriendly. They just need different conditions to thrive. And it might mean they have healthier boundaries. Reduce the number of meetings that could be emails. Create roles that balance public interaction with behind-the-scenes work. And please, stop using “culture fit” as code for “people who want to hang out together outside of work.” This leads to favoritism and bias.
The personal piece: Librarians work in a profession that requires significant social engagement. For years, you might have thought something was wrong with you because you felt exhausted after days that other people found energizing. Understanding that social rest is a real need can be liberating. It doesn’t matter if you’re an introvert or extrovert, neurodiverse or neurotypical. Be honest about your capacity. Don’t attend every optional event. Build in alone time after intense social periods. And stop feeling guilty about it, this isn’t antisocial behavior; it’s self-awareness about what you need to show up as your best self.
6. Creative Rest: Replenishing Your Capacity for Innovation
Creative rest is about appreciating beauty and inspiration without the pressure to produce something. It’s what we need when we’re experiencing creative fatigue, when every brainstorming session feels like pulling teeth, when we can’t think of one more way to make storytime engaging.
What it looks like in libraries: Constantly developing new programs. Creating displays. Solving problems with limited resources. Being expected to “innovate” without the time, space, or resources to actually be creative. Sitting through another meeting where you’re asked to “think outside the box” while still operating inside very rigid constraints.
What helps: Engaging with art, music, or nature without having to do anything with it. Reading for pleasure instead of professional development. Visiting museums. Taking a walk and actually looking at things. Giving yourself permission to consume creativity instead of always producing it.
The institutional piece: Libraries need to stop treating creativity as something you can turn on and off like a faucet. Innovation requires space, literal time, and mental bandwidth to explore ideas without immediate pressure to implement them. Professional development budgets shouldn’t just cover conferences; they should cover museum memberships, art supplies, and subscriptions to creative magazines. And please, stop asking staff to be creative while simultaneously micromanaging every detail of their work.
The personal piece: Some library roles feel like they require constant creativity and problem-solving, and there are times when you’ll feel completely tapped out. What helps is separating consumption from production. Read fiction without thinking about programming ideas. Visit art museums without photographing everything for social media. Cook without documenting it. You need to fill the creative well before you can draw from it, and that means sometimes just appreciating beauty or creativity without turning it into work. Be present in what you’re doing.
7. Spiritual Rest: Connecting to Something Bigger
Spiritual rest, whether through religion, meditation, purpose, or community, is about feeling connected to something beyond yourself. It’s not necessarily religious; it’s about meaning and belonging.
What it looks like in libraries: Experiencing a disconnect between your values and institutional policies. Being asked to enforce rules you don’t believe serve your community. Feeling like your work doesn’t matter or isn’t valued. Losing sight of why you became a librarian in the first place, because you’re drowning in bureaucracy or fighting book challenges.
What helps: Connecting with your library’s mission in tangible ways. Volunteering for causes you care about. Meditation or prayer if that’s meaningful to you. Spending time in communities where you feel you belong. Reconnecting with the “why” of your work.
The institutional piece: This is where value alignment becomes critical. When libraries require staff to enforce policies that contradict core professional values and ethics, whether around intellectual freedom, privacy, or equitable access, they create spiritual distress. When librarians are forced to compromise their beliefs about serving their community, when good work goes unrecognized, when mission statements ring hollow because actions don’t match words, that’s a recipe for moral injury, not just burnout.
The personal piece: Spiritual rest can come from connecting with why you do this work in the first place. When you’re feeling burned out or cynical, create opportunities to reconnect with libraries’ impact on people’s lives, read thank-you notes from patrons, talk with colleagues about meaningful interactions they’ve had, or volunteer in ways that remind you of the difference this profession makes. Find spiritual rest in nature, in faith or spiritual communities if that’s meaningful to you, or in groups where you can show up as your whole self, not just the professional version. Those connections remind you that you’re part of something bigger than any single frustration or challenge.
Moving Beyond Individual Self-Care
Here’s what I want you to take away from this: if you’re experiencing exhaustion despite taking care of yourself physically, you’re not failing at self-care. You are probably neglecting one or more of the other types of rest, and often because your workplace makes it nearly impossible to get them.
I’ve attended too many conference sessions and workshops or seen online courses that tell library workers how to individually prevent burnout through better self-care. But burnout isn’t an individual problem; it’s an organizational one. All seven types of rest require not just personal choices but institutional support.
So yes, look at where you might be neglecting certain types of rest. Build time for mental quiet, emotional authenticity, social recharging, creative play, and spiritual connection. But also? Advocate for workplaces that make rest possible. Push back on policies and cultures that deplete you faster than you can recover.
Because the truth is, we can’t yoga and meditate our way out of systemic workplace problems. Real rest requires real change, at the organizational level, not just the individual one.
#7TypesOfRest #burnout #health #healthyWorkplace #mentalHealth #psychologicalSafety #selfCare #sevenTypesOfRest #wellness #workplaceWellbeing
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The 7 Types of Rest Librarians Actually Need and How to Get Them
I know many of us are struggling right now. Things are rough out there for libraries and for us as people living in the world. When we think about self-care or rest, most of us default to the physical, things like getting enough sleep, maybe squeezing in a workout, or taking a vacation day. And those things matter. But if you’re someone who sleeps eight hours a night, takes your lunch away from your desk, and still feels depleted? You’re not doing self-care wrong. You might be missing the other six types of rest your body and mind need.
There are seven distinct types of rest that we all need to function well. The problem is that we tend to focus on one or two while completely neglecting the others. Sometimes it is because we forget that there is more than one way to rest, sometimes it is because we don’t have a choice.
You know, when I talk about the research around healthy work environments and well-being at work that so many of the conditions that lead to rest deficits aren’t individual problems; they’re organizational ones. This isn’t about librarians needing to be better at self-care. It’s about library workplaces creating conditions where rest is possible.
Let’s look at the seven types and what they look like specifically in library work.
1. Physical Rest: Beyond Sleep and Exercise
Physical rest includes both passive rest (sleep, napping) and active rest (restorative movement like stretching, yoga, or massage). Most of us understand this type of rest, even if we don’t always get enough of it.
What it looks like in libraries: Standing at service desks for hours without breaks. Shelving carts of books. Sitting through back-to-back meetings in uncomfortable chairs. Working split shifts with long commutes. Being expected to come in when you’re sick because there’s no coverage.
What helps: Adequate sleep and vacation time, yes. But also, ergonomic workstations, permission to take actual breaks, and gentle movement during the day.
The institutional piece: Here’s where organizational responsibility comes in. Libraries need staffing levels that allow people to take breaks without guilt. They need to plan for absences during cold and flu season instead of expecting people to work through illness. They need to provide ergonomic equipment without making staff jump through hoops to get it.
The personal piece: I’m someone who prioritizes sleep. Because I’ve struggle with sleep for years, I have good sleep hygiene. But I have had to learned that physical rest also means listening to my body during the day. Sometimes that means doing gentle stretches between video calls. It means using my lunch break to move my body instead of eating at my desk while answering emails. And sometimes it means admitting I need to take a sick day instead of pushing through because I think I should be able to handle it. The older I get, the more I realize that ignoring what my body is telling me just leads to longer recovery times.
2. Mental Rest: When Your Brain Won’t Turn Off
Mental rest is about giving your mind a break from constant decision-making, problem-solving, and information processing. You know you need mental rest when you can’t stop thinking about work, when your brain feels foggy, or when you’re making unusual mistakes.
What it looks like in libraries: Fielding complex reference questions back-to-back. Troubleshooting technology problems all day. Managing competing priorities with inadequate time. Keeping track of multiple projects while being constantly interrupted. Making decisions about collection development, programming, and budgets, often with limited resources and high stakes.
What helps: Short breaks during the workday. Time to think without interruption. Journaling to offload racing thoughts. Mindfulness practices. Even just five minutes of sitting quietly between tasks.
The institutional piece: Libraries need to build in transition time between programs and meetings. They need to create spaces, physical and temporal, where staff can work without interruption. They need to reduce the expectation that everyone should be immediately available at all times. Stop scheduling meetings back-to-back. Stop treating “busy” as a badge of honor.
The personal piece: You know you need mental rest when you’re lying in bed mentally drafting emails or replaying difficult conversations. Journaling before bed can help, not pretty journaling, just brain dumping everything onto paper so it’s not rattling around in your head all night. Try building in a transition time between different types of work. Schedule meetings for 45 minutes or 30 instead of 1 hour. Start meetings a quarter after or 30 minutes passed the hour to help build in breaks for attendees. After a complex project, do something mindless for ten minutes before jumping into the next thing. Your brain needs that reset, even if it feels inefficient in the moment.
3. Sensory Rest: Relief from Overstimulation
We live in a world of constant stimulation, and libraries are no exception. Sensory rest means reducing the input your senses are constantly processing, the screens, the noise, the fluorescent lights, the visual clutter.
What it looks like in libraries: Multiple computer monitors. Fluorescent lighting. Background noise from patrons, phones, printers, and HVAC systems. Too much time on a service desk with no access to a quiet space to decompress. Open floor plans where there’s no escape from stimulation. Being on Zoom calls all day, where you’re constantly watching yourself on screen.
What helps: Stepping away from screens periodically. Close your eyes for a few minutes. Spending time in quiet spaces. Dimming lights when possible. Using noise-canceling headphones in open workspaces (if your role allows).
The institutional piece: Libraries should provide break spaces that aren’t just repurposed storage closets with a microwave, with furniture that was deemed too gross or old for patrons. Create quiet spaces where staff can decompress. Consider lighting options beyond harsh fluorescents. Acknowledge that open office plans, while cost-effective, create sensory overload for many people. And please, stop scheduling full-day video conferences without adequate breaks.
The personal piece: You might not realize how much sensory overload is affecting you until you have a contrast. Many librarians discovered this during the pandemic when working from home. The difference between an open office environment and a quieter home space can be stark. Even when you’re working, be more intentional about reducing sensory input. Close unnecessary browser tabs. Turn off Outlook notifications during focus time. Take your glasses off and close your eyes for a few minutes when you feel that overstimulated buzzing in your head. Take your lunch away from your desk. Get out of the building and experience nature, look up at the sky, even for a few minutes. Look out a window. These seem like small things, but they make a real difference in how depleted you feel at the end of the day.
4. Emotional Rest: Permission to Be Real
Emotional rest is about having the space to express your authentic feelings instead of performing emotional labor constantly. It’s the freedom to say “I’m struggling” without immediately having to reassure everyone that you’re fine.
What it looks like in libraries: Maintaining a pleasant demeanor with difficult patrons. Absorbing community distress, about book challenges, about access to resources, about homelessness, about technology barriers. Managing up when you disagree with administrative decisions. Suppressing frustration when policies don’t serve patrons’ needs or when local, state, or national politics interfere with intellectual freedom or other professional values and ethics. Performing “niceness” even when you’re dealing with harassment or unreasonable demands. All of these involve emotional labor and often invisible labor.
What helps: Having people you can be honest with about how you’re really feeling. Setting boundaries with emotionally draining situations. Processing difficult interactions instead of stuffing them down.
The institutional piece: This is huge. Libraries need to move beyond the veneer of niceness that makes it impossible to address real problems. They need psychological safety, environments where staff can voice concerns without fear of being labeled “negative” or “not a team player.” They need clear protocols for handling abusive patron behavior instead of expecting staff to just absorb it. They need to acknowledge that emotional labor is real work and stop treating it as an expected personality trait, especially for women and people of color. It is important to ensure staff have downtime away from patrons and coworkers in a private space to allow staff to process emotions without masking. Make sure tasks that involve emotional labor are not piled on to one person or a small group. Look at policies and practices to help distribute invisible labor equally.
The personal piece: This is the type of rest many of us struggle with most, especially those of us who are “fixers”; we see problems and want to solve them, or we see something that needs to be done and we do it. But that means we often don’t give ourselves space to feel frustrated or sad or angry about workplace challenges. You don’t have to immediately move to problem-solving mode. Sometimes things just suck, and you need to acknowledge that before you can move forward. Be selective about who you process difficult situations with; some people help you feel heard, while others inadvertently make you feel like you need to manage their reactions to your feelings.
5. Social Rest: Recharging Your Social Battery
Social rest isn’t about being anti-social; it’s about balancing draining social interactions with restorative ones. It’s the difference between being “on” all the time and having a real connection.
What it looks like in libraries: Being in public-facing roles all day. Attending committee meetings. Making small talk at community events. Navigating workplace relationships and politics. Dealing with interpersonal conflicts. For introverts, neurodiverse people, and people in minority groups, even positive social interactions can be depleting without adequate recovery time.
What helps: Time alone to recharge. Saying no to optional social events when you need to. Spending time with people who energize rather than drain you. Having control over when and how you engage socially.
The institutional piece: Stop making attendance at social events outside of work hours feel mandatory. Respect that different people have different social needs. There are many reasons people may not work to socialize outside of work, that does not mean they are antisocial or unfriendly. They just need different conditions to thrive. And it might mean they have healthier boundaries. Reduce the number of meetings that could be emails. Create roles that balance public interaction with behind-the-scenes work. And please, stop using “culture fit” as code for “people who want to hang out together outside of work.” This leads to favoritism and bias.
The personal piece: Librarians work in a profession that requires significant social engagement. For years, you might have thought something was wrong with you because you felt exhausted after days that other people found energizing. Understanding that social rest is a real need can be liberating. It doesn’t matter if you’re an introvert or extrovert, neurodiverse or neurotypical. Be honest about your capacity. Don’t attend every optional event. Build in alone time after intense social periods. And stop feeling guilty about it, this isn’t antisocial behavior; it’s self-awareness about what you need to show up as your best self.
6. Creative Rest: Replenishing Your Capacity for Innovation
Creative rest is about appreciating beauty and inspiration without the pressure to produce something. It’s what we need when we’re experiencing creative fatigue, when every brainstorming session feels like pulling teeth, when we can’t think of one more way to make storytime engaging.
What it looks like in libraries: Constantly developing new programs. Creating displays. Solving problems with limited resources. Being expected to “innovate” without the time, space, or resources to actually be creative. Sitting through another meeting where you’re asked to “think outside the box” while still operating inside very rigid constraints.
What helps: Engaging with art, music, or nature without having to do anything with it. Reading for pleasure instead of professional development. Visiting museums. Taking a walk and actually looking at things. Giving yourself permission to consume creativity instead of always producing it.
The institutional piece: Libraries need to stop treating creativity as something you can turn on and off like a faucet. Innovation requires space, literal time, and mental bandwidth to explore ideas without immediate pressure to implement them. Professional development budgets shouldn’t just cover conferences; they should cover museum memberships, art supplies, and subscriptions to creative magazines. And please, stop asking staff to be creative while simultaneously micromanaging every detail of their work.
The personal piece: Some library roles feel like they require constant creativity and problem-solving, and there are times when you’ll feel completely tapped out. What helps is separating consumption from production. Read fiction without thinking about programming ideas. Visit art museums without photographing everything for social media. Cook without documenting it. You need to fill the creative well before you can draw from it, and that means sometimes just appreciating beauty or creativity without turning it into work. Be present in what you’re doing.
7. Spiritual Rest: Connecting to Something Bigger
Spiritual rest, whether through religion, meditation, purpose, or community, is about feeling connected to something beyond yourself. It’s not necessarily religious; it’s about meaning and belonging.
What it looks like in libraries: Experiencing a disconnect between your values and institutional policies. Being asked to enforce rules you don’t believe serve your community. Feeling like your work doesn’t matter or isn’t valued. Losing sight of why you became a librarian in the first place, because you’re drowning in bureaucracy or fighting book challenges.
What helps: Connecting with your library’s mission in tangible ways. Volunteering for causes you care about. Meditation or prayer if that’s meaningful to you. Spending time in communities where you feel you belong. Reconnecting with the “why” of your work.
The institutional piece: This is where value alignment becomes critical. When libraries require staff to enforce policies that contradict core professional values and ethics, whether around intellectual freedom, privacy, or equitable access, they create spiritual distress. When librarians are forced to compromise their beliefs about serving their community, when good work goes unrecognized, when mission statements ring hollow because actions don’t match words, that’s a recipe for moral injury, not just burnout.
The personal piece: Spiritual rest can come from connecting with why you do this work in the first place. When you’re feeling burned out or cynical, create opportunities to reconnect with libraries’ impact on people’s lives, read thank-you notes from patrons, talk with colleagues about meaningful interactions they’ve had, or volunteer in ways that remind you of the difference this profession makes. Find spiritual rest in nature, in faith or spiritual communities if that’s meaningful to you, or in groups where you can show up as your whole self, not just the professional version. Those connections remind you that you’re part of something bigger than any single frustration or challenge.
Moving Beyond Individual Self-Care
Here’s what I want you to take away from this: if you’re experiencing exhaustion despite taking care of yourself physically, you’re not failing at self-care. You are probably neglecting one or more of the other types of rest, and often because your workplace makes it nearly impossible to get them.
I’ve attended too many conference sessions and workshops or seen online courses that tell library workers how to individually prevent burnout through better self-care. But burnout isn’t an individual problem; it’s an organizational one. All seven types of rest require not just personal choices but institutional support.
So yes, look at where you might be neglecting certain types of rest. Build time for mental quiet, emotional authenticity, social recharging, creative play, and spiritual connection. But also? Advocate for workplaces that make rest possible. Push back on policies and cultures that deplete you faster than you can recover.
Because the truth is, we can’t yoga and meditate our way out of systemic workplace problems. Real rest requires real change, at the organizational level, not just the individual one.
Edited November 18, 2025
Someone commented asking for references and I’m embarrassed I didn’t include them! (Thank you commenter for pointing that out!) Regular readers know they are normally included with posts like this. This post is a longer version of content I’ve been including in my presentations for over a year I didn’t go back and pull the sources I have at the end of the presentation. Here they are!
References
Abramson, A. (2025, May 6). Seven types of rest to help restore your body’s energy. Https://Www.Apa.Org. https://www.apa.org/topics/mental-health/seven-rest-types
Beddington, E. (2021, November 25). The seven types of rest: I spent a week trying them all. Could they help end my exhaustion? The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/nov/25/the-seven-types-of-rest-i-spent-a-week-trying-them-all-could-they-help-end-my-exhaustion
Ericson, C. (2021, September 29). The seven types of rest that can improve your well-being. The Boston Globe. https://sponsored.bostonglobe.com/point32health/7-types-rest-improve-well-being/
Here are the 7 types of rest that can help you to feel fully renewed. (n.d.). Calm Blog. https://blog.calm.com/blog/7-types-of-rest
Maslach, C. (2017). Finding solutions to the problem of burnout. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 69(2), 143–152. https://doi.org/10.1037/cpb0000090
Schaufeli, W. B., Leiter, M. P., & Maslach, C. (2009). Burnout: 35 years of research and practice. Career Development International, 14(3), 204–220.
Skowron, C. (2022, December 21). The 7 Kinds of Rest You Actually Need. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/a-different-kind-of-therapy/202212/the-7-kinds-of-rest-you-need-to-actually-feel-rejuvenated
Willkomm, A. C. (2022, November 14). 7 Types of Rest. Graduate College, Drexel University. https://drexel.edu/graduatecollege/professional-development/blog/2022/November/7-types-of-rest/
Yang, A. B. (2023, March 30). Don’t rely on work for socialization. https://www.workbetter.media/p/dont-rely-on-work-for-socialization
#7TypesOfRest #burnout #health #healthyWorkplace #mentalHealth #psychologicalSafety #selfCare #sevenTypesOfRest #wellness #workplaceWellbeing -
Let’s get goofy at Dogtoberfest! 🍂 🐾 Join us October 5th at Harpoon Brewery in #Boston for contests, adoptable #dogs, #dog yoga, and more. https://harpoonbrewery.com/event/dogtoberfest/
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This month, today and everyday we cherish and celebrate the long history and achievements of black folx. Throughout the course of #blackhistorymonth, we will use our platform to uplift the voices of black feminists and environmental activists.
Today, we start by honoring Angela Yvonne Davis, a prominent civil rights activist, scholar, writer and lifelong feminist.
For more than half a century, Angela Davis has advocated against many forms of oppression. Structural change and transformation, according to Davis, reflects decades of activism before awareness enters the mainstream. That is a message she wants to convey to the younger generations, and she invites them to imagine what might happen in the years to come. Davis herself, feels privileged to have seen structural change start making sense after years of fighting, yet she is willing to fight until all oppressed people are free.
Angela Davis is a proponent of radical self care, and she first starting practicing yoga and meditation in jail as a form of individual care practice. Later on, she acknowledged the importance of the collective character of care. A holistic approach is what she advocates for, in order to develop our movements for the better. Davis also believes in intersectional feminism, a feminism who is aware and Black women, other women of color, trans women, poor women, all women.
Angela Davis Books:
Women, Race, and Class (1980), Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday (1999), Are Prisons Obsolete? (2003), Abolition Democracy: Beyond Empire, Prisons, and Torture (2005), The Meaning of Freedom: And Other Difficult Dialogues (2012) and Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement (2016).
#blackhistory #blackactivist #activism #civilrights #feminism #angeladavis #actnow
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Fine Art America is gearing up its sales early this year. 25% off all lifestyle and accessory products! Today only! Shop for tote bags, yoga mats, coffee mugs, and more from independent artists all over the world. https://iris-richardson.pixels.com/shop/tote+bags #Christmas22 #ShopEarly #BuyIntoArt #IrisRichardsonArtist #FallForArt #IrisKnowsArt
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Thousands of runners bounced at the starting line, I stood still with my eyes closed, breathing.
Yoga taught me how to run.
Do you practice both yoga and running, or does one call to you more?
Read the full story
#yoga #running #embodiedpractice
#mindfulness #breathwork #meditation
#spirituality #yogalife #runnersofinstagram -
«Partage» with Stany Foucher
https://moversmindset.com/partage-with-stany-foucher/
What new formats and practices best transmit Art du Déplacement’s culture—beyond technique—so practitioners can reflect, connect, and grow together?
Art du Déplacement’s culture is deepened through «partage», reflective practice formats, and distinctive training like vision work and night missions.
Still, I had the fear, but I knew where I was, where I was going, [and] how— I knew myself better, basically. So this very strong experience with my friends, and this strong experience of failure— That was really an in between moment for me. […]There is before that training session at the «Dame du Lac» experiencing all this. And then there is me discovering more about my inner self and being very different in the way I approach fear.
~ Stany Foucher (1:33:00)The discussion frames Art du Déplacement as a living culture rather than simply a set of techniques. Stany’s recently published, French-language book is highlighted as a deliberate choice, made with the awareness that language shapes who can engage with the ideas. (Craig and Stany hope that an English translation can eventually be created which captures the subtlety and depth of the material.) The strengths of books—slower pacing and deeper digestion—are compared to the reach and immediacy of video. This leads to exploring audio as a practice medium, with the idea of podcast-led movement sessions modeled on audio yoga classes. The conversation also touches on the value of building shared reference points across the community, so practitioners in different places can connect through common experiences.
Practice design is a recurring theme. The Movers Mindset Pause project is discussed as a way to help practitioners form a cycle from discovery to reflection to change. Coaching is discussed as more than sets and repetitions, incorporating environment, questioning, and reframing experiences. Public-space QM is described as a way to normalize human movement in busy urban settings, reducing self-consciousness and building autonomy. The pair note the importance of training “vision” as a standalone capacity, distinct from fear management or technical skill.
Maybe one thing that I’m trying to focus on sometimes is this vision element of the discipline. Vision is really a topic by itself. If you just try to be in an analyzing mode, you know, trying to analyze the environment and be— not measuring, but just feeling— not for the sake of techniques, but just vision for vision. Maybe new things can arise.
~ Stany Foucher (58:00)They describe silent, “night missions” where participants select a distant, barely visible endpoint and navigate to it without touching the ground, focusing on presence, creative pathfinding, and trajectory rather than named techniques. Other modalities—lifting, carrying, climbing, and playing on varied terrain—are folded into practice to broaden capacity. Social aspects like shared meals, walks, and storytelling are recognized as essential for transmitting culture, complementing formal training.
But something that I really get, also from those years of training, and maybe you don’t see it is, all the questioning behind it. I cannot think of a training that would not end with a question— [an] open question from—especially from Jann [Hnautra]—just reflecting on what you did. Why were you in that state of mind when we’re doing this movement? Why did you want to stop when you were doing the QM? Lots of questions and reflecting on what you did. I think this is an important piece of the training.
~ Stany Foucher (28:00)Personal philosophy surfaces through parenting analogies—providing environments where children retain innate movement abilities—and a formative story of a major failure that marked a clear “before and after” in approaching fear. The conversation closes with reflections on building community connection despite geographic distance, testing new formats for sharing practice, and maintaining a loop where ideas, movement, and reflection continually reinforce each other.
Takeaways
Language shapes reach — Choosing French vs. English determines who can read, hear, and benefit.
Books slow the pace — A book supports digestion of concepts that video often rushes past.
Podcast as training — Audio sessions can guide live movement for listeners who learn by hearing.
Build a reflection loop — Journaling and the Pause practice embed discovery to reflection to efficacy.
Coaching beyond technique — The value includes questions, environment, and pointing in the right direction.
Normalize movement in public — Holding QM sessions in busy spaces reduces self-consciousness and increases autonomy.
Train vision explicitly — Treat “vision” as its own topic, not only fear or technique.
Use night missions — Silent, goal-directed traversals cultivate presence and creative pathfinding.
Mix natural modalities — Lifting, carrying, climbing, and terrain play (rocks, slopes) broaden practice.
«Partage» matters — Sharing stories, meals, and walks transmits culture that classes alone can’t.
Parenting reframes coaching — Provide safe environments so kids don’t lose what they already have.
Failure as inflection point — A hard setback created a clear “before/after” in approach to fear.
Resources
https://wiseflow.fr/ — Stany Foucher’s website for his book, podcast, and more.
Art du Déplacement: Au delà de saut — French-language book discussed as framing the culture beyond movement; available as EPUB globally and in print within Europe.
Wise Flow — Stany’s French-language podcast.
craigconstantine.com — Craig’s personal web site with links to everything he does.
Movers Mindset’s Pause — The new Pause publication is a weekly email publication designed for movement professionals—coaches, teachers, gym owners, and practitioners—who want to slow down and reconnect with their deeper why.
Stany Boulifard Mallet: Art du Déplacement, the Yamakasi, and motivation — Stany’s first appearance, back in 2018, on the Movers Mindset podcast.
Art du Déplacement (ADD) — Information about Art du Déplacement in general.
Parkour & Art du déplacement: Lessons in practical wisdom – Leçons de sagesse pratique — Vincent Thibault’s 2015 book discussed in this podcast. The book contains both the French and English text. Don’t confuse it with the similarly named, but completely different book, “Parkour and the Art du déplacement: Strength, Dignity, Community”, published in 2014. There is also a second edition, which is French-language only.
Out on the Wire — Book by Jessica Abel recommended by Craig as a book about podcasting, presented as a graphic-novel-style work interviewing leading creators.
Meditations — Book by Marcus Aurelius (translated by Gregory Hayes) mentioned by Craig as his most-read book.
Quadrupedal Movement (QM) — A practice and movement pattern emphasized in this episode and in Art du Déplacement generally.
Communication with Vincent Thibault — Vincent Thibault’s episode on Movers Mindset.
Move NYC — Public event in New York City mentioned by Craig in reference to normalizing human movement in busy spaces.
Joan of Arc Garden, in Quebec City — Location and statue mentioned by Craig as a setting for personal reflection.
(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)
ɕ
#Partage #MoversMindset #StanyFoucher -
Hi all, I've just setup my own #GoToSocial instance, so it's time for an updated #introduction
I'm very much into #yoga and #meditation and everything related to that. I'm trying to learn #Sanskrit because its a beautiful language and also in order to be able to read text like the #BhagavadGita #Upanishads #YogaSutras which greatly inspire me.
I'm from the #Netherlands and work in #science in the field of outdoor #AirQuality I may occasionally share something about that, but this is not a work account (and any opinions are my own).
I love #photography , mostly related to #nature #weather #clouds #trees
I love the #forest, I'm grateful to live at the edge of the beautiful #Veluwe nature area.
I love growing food in my #garden using #organic #permaculture and #RegenerativeAgriculture inspired methods, I'm dreaming of tending my own #FoodForest some day.
Unfortunately I'm operating at half power thanks to #LongCovid since Feb. '22, so most of my hobbies are in "maintenance mode".
I'll post in English, my Dutch account is @kedara_nl
I also have a personal website @ https://kedara.eu where I #blog, tend a #DigitalGarden / #wiki and try to contribute to the #Indieweb #smallweb communities.
I've done my fair share of instance hopping and had hoped to solve that by starting my own Akkoma instance, but found GoToSocial more suitable to my needs in the end. I hope to stay here now indefinitely.
Let me know if you have similar interests and I'll be happy to chat! -
Hi all, I've just setup my own #GoToSocial instance, so it's time for an updated #introduction
I'm very much into #yoga and #meditation and everything related to that. I'm trying to learn #Sanskrit because its a beautiful language and also in order to be able to read text like the #BhagavadGita #Upanishads #YogaSutras which greatly inspire me.
I'm from the #Netherlands and work in #science in the field of outdoor #AirQuality I may occasionally share something about that, but this is not a work account (and any opinions are my own).
I love #photography , mostly related to #nature #weather #clouds #trees
I love the #forest, I'm grateful to live at the edge of the beautiful #Veluwe nature area.
I love growing food in my #garden using #organic #permaculture and #RegenerativeAgriculture inspired methods, I'm dreaming of tending my own #FoodForest some day.
Unfortunately I'm operating at half power thanks to #LongCovid since Feb. '22, so most of my hobbies are in "maintenance mode".
I'll post in English, my Dutch account is @kedara_nl
I also have a personal website @ https://kedara.eu where I #blog, tend a #DigitalGarden / #wiki and try to contribute to the #Indieweb #smallweb communities.
I've done my fair share of instance hopping and had hoped to solve that by starting my own Akkoma instance, but found GoToSocial more suitable to my needs in the end. I hope to stay here now indefinitely.
Let me know if you have similar interests and I'll be happy to chat! -
Hi all, I've just setup my own #GoToSocial instance, so it's time for an updated #introduction
I'm very much into #yoga and #meditation and everything related to that. I'm trying to learn #Sanskrit because its a beautiful language and also in order to be able to read text like the #BhagavadGita #Upanishads #YogaSutras which greatly inspire me.
I'm from the #Netherlands and work in #science in the field of outdoor #AirQuality I may occasionally share something about that, but this is not a work account (and any opinions are my own).
I love #photography , mostly related to #nature #weather #clouds #trees
I love the #forest, I'm grateful to live at the edge of the beautiful #Veluwe nature area.
I love growing food in my #garden using #organic #permaculture and #RegenerativeAgriculture inspired methods, I'm dreaming of tending my own #FoodForest some day.
Unfortunately I'm operating at half power thanks to #LongCovid since Feb. '22, so most of my hobbies are in "maintenance mode".
I'll post in English, my Dutch account is @kedara_nl
I also have a personal website @ https://kedara.eu where I #blog, tend a #DigitalGarden / #wiki and try to contribute to the #Indieweb #smallweb communities.
I've done my fair share of instance hopping and had hoped to solve that by starting my own Akkoma instance, but found GoToSocial more suitable to my needs in the end. I hope to stay here now indefinitely.
Let me know if you have similar interests and I'll be happy to chat! -
Experience sustainable living with One Community Timeshares! Enjoy art, organic meals, yoga, nature, and community engagement in a self-sustaining environment. Ownership includes group activities, childcare, and more, with additional services available. Timeshare priced at $5,000 with low annual dues. 🌍
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#SustainableLiving #Timeshares #EcoFriendlyTravel #CommunityLiving #GreenLiving #SustainableTravel #OrganicMeals #YogaAndMeditation #SelfSustaining #EcoTourism
-
Experience sustainable living with One Community Timeshares! Enjoy art, organic meals, yoga, nature, and community engagement in a self-sustaining environment. Ownership includes group activities, childcare, and more, with additional services available. Timeshare priced at $5,000 with low annual dues. 🌍
https://www.onecommunityglobal.org/one-community-timeshares/
#SustainableLiving #Timeshares #EcoFriendlyTravel #CommunityLiving #GreenLiving #SustainableTravel #OrganicMeals #YogaAndMeditation #SelfSustaining #EcoTourism
-
Experience sustainable living with One Community Timeshares! Enjoy art, organic meals, yoga, nature, and community engagement in a self-sustaining environment. Ownership includes group activities, childcare, and more, with additional services available. Timeshare priced at $5,000 with low annual dues. 🌍
https://www.onecommunityglobal.org/one-community-timeshares/
#SustainableLiving #Timeshares #EcoFriendlyTravel #CommunityLiving #GreenLiving #SustainableTravel #OrganicMeals #YogaAndMeditation #SelfSustaining #EcoTourism
-
Experience sustainable living with One Community Timeshares! Enjoy art, organic meals, yoga, nature, and community engagement in a self-sustaining environment. Ownership includes group activities, childcare, and more, with additional services available. Timeshare priced at $5,000 with low annual dues. 🌍
https://www.onecommunityglobal.org/one-community-timeshares/
#SustainableLiving #Timeshares #EcoFriendlyTravel #CommunityLiving #GreenLiving #SustainableTravel #OrganicMeals #YogaAndMeditation #SelfSustaining #EcoTourism
-
what is the best about home made food is that you always know what it contains of 🥰
no added sugar or salt, no strange chemical ingredients or colorants 😊since i don't drink any kind of alcohol and our homemade food is always more tasty than anything we try outside, there is always delicious vegan homemade cake in the fridge - the word "celebrating" slowly lost it's meaning 🤷♀️
i don't know what could i do "to celebrate"? 🤔
today it was 1,5h of yoga and nice and sunny 7 km relaxing walk along the sea in Espoo 😍Happy Midsummer! 😊❤
..
..
..
our homemade vegan raw glutenfree coco-blueberry cake on the photo ❤
the sausages are also vegan and gluten free
coffee with Oatly ikaffe ☕
.
#veganskmat #vegaaninen #vegan #midsummer #glutenfreeveganfood #homemadedessert #gluteeniton #gluteenitonkakku #gluteenitonvegaani #vegaani #vegaaninen #veganfood #vegancakes #vegaaninenkirkkonummi #Kirkkonummi #kyrkslätt #kyrkslättmanskör #vegaaninenruoka #ruokakuva #ruoka #maalaismaisema #kotitekoinen #kotitekoinenkakku -
what is the best about home made food is that you always know what it contains of 🥰
no added sugar or salt, no strange chemical ingredients or colorants 😊since i don't drink any kind of alcohol and our homemade food is always more tasty than anything we try outside, there is always delicious vegan homemade cake in the fridge - the word "celebrating" slowly lost it's meaning 🤷♀️
i don't know what could i do "to celebrate"? 🤔
today it was 1,5h of yoga and nice and sunny 7 km relaxing walk along the sea in Espoo 😍Happy Midsummer! 😊❤
..
..
..
our homemade vegan raw glutenfree coco-blueberry cake on the photo ❤
the sausages are also vegan and gluten free
coffee with Oatly ikaffe ☕
.
#veganskmat #vegaaninen #vegan #midsummer #glutenfreeveganfood #homemadedessert #gluteeniton #gluteenitonkakku #gluteenitonvegaani #vegaani #vegaaninen #veganfood #vegancakes #vegaaninenkirkkonummi #Kirkkonummi #kyrkslätt #kyrkslättmanskör #vegaaninenruoka #ruokakuva #ruoka #maalaismaisema #kotitekoinen #kotitekoinenkakku -
what is the best about home made food is that you always know what it contains of 🥰
no added sugar or salt, no strange chemical ingredients or colorants 😊since i don't drink any kind of alcohol and our homemade food is always more tasty than anything we try outside, there is always delicious vegan homemade cake in the fridge - the word "celebrating" slowly lost it's meaning 🤷♀️
i don't know what could i do "to celebrate"? 🤔
today it was 1,5h of yoga and nice and sunny 7 km relaxing walk along the sea in Espoo 😍Happy Midsummer! 😊❤
..
..
..
our homemade vegan raw glutenfree coco-blueberry cake on the photo ❤
the sausages are also vegan and gluten free
coffee with Oatly ikaffe ☕
.
#veganskmat #vegaaninen #vegan #midsummer #glutenfreeveganfood #homemadedessert #gluteeniton #gluteenitonkakku #gluteenitonvegaani #vegaani #vegaaninen #veganfood #vegancakes #vegaaninenkirkkonummi #Kirkkonummi #kyrkslätt #kyrkslättmanskör #vegaaninenruoka #ruokakuva #ruoka #maalaismaisema #kotitekoinen #kotitekoinenkakku -
what is the best about home made food is that you always know what it contains of 🥰
no added sugar or salt, no strange chemical ingredients or colorants 😊since i don't drink any kind of alcohol and our homemade food is always more tasty than anything we try outside, there is always delicious vegan homemade cake in the fridge - the word "celebrating" slowly lost it's meaning 🤷♀️
i don't know what could i do "to celebrate"? 🤔
today it was 1,5h of yoga and nice and sunny 7 km relaxing walk along the sea in Espoo 😍Happy Midsummer! 😊❤
..
..
..
our homemade vegan raw glutenfree coco-blueberry cake on the photo ❤
the sausages are also vegan and gluten free
coffee with Oatly ikaffe ☕
.
#veganskmat #vegaaninen #vegan #midsummer #glutenfreeveganfood #homemadedessert #gluteeniton #gluteenitonkakku #gluteenitonvegaani #vegaani #vegaaninen #veganfood #vegancakes #vegaaninenkirkkonummi #Kirkkonummi #kyrkslätt #kyrkslättmanskör #vegaaninenruoka #ruokakuva #ruoka #maalaismaisema #kotitekoinen #kotitekoinenkakku -
"Today is the oldest you've ever been, and the youngest you'll ever be again."
..Will we start training? what if you join?
TO START I HAVE TO KNOW IF THERE ARE PEOPLE INTRESTED.Hello!
i´m not doing new workouts online lately as all the big stress from several previous months and the grief completely kicked me off. I don´t feel good psychologically and physically.
I know I´m not the only one dealing with stress, depression and grief at these times..
There are two things I also know - falling apart is not a solution and during a workout I can disconnect from all the external world and all the problems.
Probably not during relaxing sessions, but the ones where you have to work and concentrate..
So no relaxing sessions. Nothing restorative. just something that will pump all the thoughts out..
As I have not been training enough for half a year I feel myself on the beginner level. so I decided it´s time to make a workout plan for beginners, for a month. with additional options for all levels.
Something like 3 or 4 short online sessions per week, approximately 20-minutes each of strength training, yoga and stretching.
Motivation and finding a wish to start is the hardest thing.Would somebody else would like to join? to start strength and flexibility training from a scratch? Let me know, please. This would be the motivation for me.
.
What would you get?1 - Body balance and stability:
- legs: coordination and balance (for the kicks if you´re into martial arts)
- arms: strong wrists (for the safe punches if - you know)2 - Stretching and flexibility:
- feeling younger by getting more mobility
- high kicks + splits3 - Strength:
- core + back health
- better body relief
- everyday life energyAnd the most important - during a workout you leave the outer world outside!
.
.
the main goal of a workout is to forget all the shit and enjoy.
even if you´re cursing every minute of it.
the more you curse - the less shit left
.
Tell me in the comments if you´re in 😀 and please share 😊
it's online 😎
.
.
.
#veganfitness #jooga #masalakirkkonummi
#joogasuomi #vegaani #kirkkonummi
#joogakirkkonummi #joogaespoo #kyrkslätt #kauklahti #espoonlahti #kivenlahti #laurinlahti #hyvinvointi #voimaharjoittelu #kuntoilu #liikunta #kotitreeni #kehonpainoharjoittelu #kehonpainotreeni #ryhmaliikunta
#treenikotona #yogainenglish #joustavuus #venyttely #joogaaverkossa #kehonhuolto #joogaajokapäivä #joogaopettaja #styrketräning #kotikuntosali #yoga #fitness #yogaonline #stretching #strengthtraining #backhealth #workout #homeworkout #homeworkouts #flexibility #martialarts #YinYoga #finland -
"Today is the oldest you've ever been, and the youngest you'll ever be again."
..Will we start training? what if you join?
TO START I HAVE TO KNOW IF THERE ARE PEOPLE INTRESTED.Hello!
i´m not doing new workouts online lately as all the big stress from several previous months and the grief completely kicked me off. I don´t feel good psychologically and physically.
I know I´m not the only one dealing with stress, depression and grief at these times..
There are two things I also know - falling apart is not a solution and during a workout I can disconnect from all the external world and all the problems.
Probably not during relaxing sessions, but the ones where you have to work and concentrate..
So no relaxing sessions. Nothing restorative. just something that will pump all the thoughts out..
As I have not been training enough for half a year I feel myself on the beginner level. so I decided it´s time to make a workout plan for beginners, for a month. with additional options for all levels.
Something like 3 or 4 short online sessions per week, approximately 20-minutes each of strength training, yoga and stretching.
Motivation and finding a wish to start is the hardest thing.Would somebody else would like to join? to start strength and flexibility training from a scratch? Let me know, please. This would be the motivation for me.
.
What would you get?1 - Body balance and stability:
- legs: coordination and balance (for the kicks if you´re into martial arts)
- arms: strong wrists (for the safe punches if - you know)2 - Stretching and flexibility:
- feeling younger by getting more mobility
- high kicks + splits3 - Strength:
- core + back health
- better body relief
- everyday life energyAnd the most important - during a workout you leave the outer world outside!
.
.
the main goal of a workout is to forget all the shit and enjoy.
even if you´re cursing every minute of it.
the more you curse - the less shit left
.
Tell me in the comments if you´re in 😀 and please share 😊
it's online 😎
.
.
.
#veganfitness #jooga #masalakirkkonummi
#joogasuomi #vegaani #kirkkonummi
#joogakirkkonummi #joogaespoo #kyrkslätt #kauklahti #espoonlahti #kivenlahti #laurinlahti #hyvinvointi #voimaharjoittelu #kuntoilu #liikunta #kotitreeni #kehonpainoharjoittelu #kehonpainotreeni #ryhmaliikunta
#treenikotona #yogainenglish #joustavuus #venyttely #joogaaverkossa #kehonhuolto #joogaajokapäivä #joogaopettaja #styrketräning #kotikuntosali #yoga #fitness #yogaonline #stretching #strengthtraining #backhealth #workout #homeworkout #homeworkouts #flexibility #martialarts #YinYoga #finland -
"Today is the oldest you've ever been, and the youngest you'll ever be again."
..Will we start training? what if you join?
TO START I HAVE TO KNOW IF THERE ARE PEOPLE INTRESTED.Hello!
i´m not doing new workouts online lately as all the big stress from several previous months and the grief completely kicked me off. I don´t feel good psychologically and physically.
I know I´m not the only one dealing with stress, depression and grief at these times..
There are two things I also know - falling apart is not a solution and during a workout I can disconnect from all the external world and all the problems.
Probably not during relaxing sessions, but the ones where you have to work and concentrate..
So no relaxing sessions. Nothing restorative. just something that will pump all the thoughts out..
As I have not been training enough for half a year I feel myself on the beginner level. so I decided it´s time to make a workout plan for beginners, for a month. with additional options for all levels.
Something like 3 or 4 short online sessions per week, approximately 20-minutes each of strength training, yoga and stretching.
Motivation and finding a wish to start is the hardest thing.Would somebody else would like to join? to start strength and flexibility training from a scratch? Let me know, please. This would be the motivation for me.
.
What would you get?1 - Body balance and stability:
- legs: coordination and balance (for the kicks if you´re into martial arts)
- arms: strong wrists (for the safe punches if - you know)2 - Stretching and flexibility:
- feeling younger by getting more mobility
- high kicks + splits3 - Strength:
- core + back health
- better body relief
- everyday life energyAnd the most important - during a workout you leave the outer world outside!
.
.
the main goal of a workout is to forget all the shit and enjoy.
even if you´re cursing every minute of it.
the more you curse - the less shit left
.
Tell me in the comments if you´re in 😀 and please share 😊
it's online 😎
.
.
.
#veganfitness #jooga #masalakirkkonummi
#joogasuomi #vegaani #kirkkonummi
#joogakirkkonummi #joogaespoo #kyrkslätt #kauklahti #espoonlahti #kivenlahti #laurinlahti #hyvinvointi #voimaharjoittelu #kuntoilu #liikunta #kotitreeni #kehonpainoharjoittelu #kehonpainotreeni #ryhmaliikunta
#treenikotona #yogainenglish #joustavuus #venyttely #joogaaverkossa #kehonhuolto #joogaajokapäivä #joogaopettaja #styrketräning #kotikuntosali #yoga #fitness #yogaonline #stretching #strengthtraining #backhealth #workout #homeworkout #homeworkouts #flexibility #martialarts #YinYoga #finland -
⚡️ Tameno 1.0.3 is now available, with a whopping 3.400% increase in available intervals, “count to zero”, and more!
Get regularly tapped in intervals - perfect for watering plants, brushing teeth, doing stretches, yoga, and more!
Blog Post: https://blog.eternalstorms.at/?post=4546
Enjoy 🤗
-
⚡️ Tameno 1.0.3 is now available, with a whopping 3.400% increase in available intervals, “count to zero”, and more!
Get regularly tapped in intervals - perfect for watering plants, brushing teeth, doing stretches, yoga, and more!
Blog Post: https://blog.eternalstorms.at/?post=4546
Enjoy 🤗
-
⚡️ Tameno 1.0.3 is now available, with a whopping 3.400% increase in available intervals, “count to zero”, and more!
Get regularly tapped in intervals - perfect for watering plants, brushing teeth, doing stretches, yoga, and more!
Blog Post: https://blog.eternalstorms.at/?post=4546
Enjoy 🤗
-
⚡️ Tameno 1.0.3 is now available, with a whopping 3.400% increase in available intervals, “count to zero”, and more!
Get regularly tapped in intervals - perfect for watering plants, brushing teeth, doing stretches, yoga, and more!
Blog Post: https://blog.eternalstorms.at/?post=4546
Enjoy 🤗
-
⚡️ Tameno 1.0.3 is now available, with a whopping 3.400% increase in available intervals, “count to zero”, and more!
Get regularly tapped in intervals - perfect for watering plants, brushing teeth, doing stretches, yoga, and more!
Blog Post: https://blog.eternalstorms.at/?post=4546
Enjoy 🤗
-
Dorothea Dix Park Weekly Event Guide (April 13–20, 2026)
Looking for relaxing outdoor activities, family-friendly experiences, and creative community events in Raleigh? The weekly lineup at Dorothea Dix Park offers something for everyone—from yoga and tai chi to live music and interactive arts programming.
Here’s your complete DoRaleigh guide to Dix Park events happening April 13–20, 2026.
Monday, April 13Yoga in the Park
🕕 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
📍 Harvey Hill
Unwind and reset your week with an evening yoga session overlooking the Raleigh skyline. Perfect for all levels, this outdoor class blends movement, mindfulness, and fresh air.
Tuesday, April 14Tai Chi
🕕 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
📍 Harvey Hill
Find balance, calm, and inner peace with this gentle, meditative movement class. Tai Chi at Dix Park is ideal for beginners and anyone seeking a low-impact wellness experience.
Friday, April 17Poetry in the Park
🕕 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
📍 House of Many Porches Market
Enjoy a laid-back evening of spoken word, storytelling, and community connection. Whether you’re performing or just listening, this family-friendly event invites all to experience the power of poetry.
Saturday, April 18Instrument Petting Zoo
🕙 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
📍 Gipson Play Plaza
A hands-on, interactive experience where kids and families can explore different musical instruments. Perfect for sparking creativity and introducing young ones to the world of music.
Music at the Market🕚 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
📍 House of Many Porches Market
Spend your Saturday enjoying live music, local vendors, and a vibrant community atmosphere. Bring friends, grab a bite, and soak in the sounds of Raleigh.
Why Visit Dix Park This Week?
Dorothea Dix Park continues to be one of Raleigh’s premier destinations for outdoor recreation, wellness, and community programming. With scenic views, open green space, and diverse weekly events, it’s the perfect place to connect with nature and neighbors.
Plan Your Week at Dix ParkFrom peaceful yoga sessions and tai chi to creative arts and live music, this week’s events at Dix Park offer a great mix of relaxation and fun. Whether you’re visiting solo, with friends, or bringing the whole family, there’s always something happening at one of Raleigh’s most iconic parks.
Stay connected with DoRaleigh for more weekly guides, local events, and things to do across the Triangle.
Post your community News, Events, and you can request placing a Paid ad on our Submissions Page.
Find Us: Instagram | Facebook | BSky | Linkedin
#DixParkEventsRaleigh #DorotheaDixParkEventsApril2026 #events #familyEventsRaleighNC #freeEventsRaleighApril2026 #GipsonPlayPlazaEvents #HarveyHillEvents #liveMusicDixPark #News #raleigh #RaleighOutdoorEvents #RaleighYogaInThePark #thingsToDoAtDixPark