REST EASY
Discover Calm and Abundance through the Radical Power of Rest
Brimming with encouraging wisdom, easy-to-follow guidance, and illuminating illustrations, Rest Easy is an antidote to burnout culture and an invitation to find joy, balance, and energy through the transformative power of rest.
Rest Easy invites you to experience the life-changing power of resting your mind, body, and spirit. In these pages, rest expert Ximena Vengoechea explores the power of rest and guides you through dozens of proven methods for relaxation and renewal, including movement, sound, visualizations, journaling, time in nature, meditative activities, and so much more.
Discover:
• A short quiz that reveals the ideal rest techniques for your personality and lifestyle.
Brimming with encouraging wisdom, easy-to-follow guidance, and illuminating illustrations, Rest Easy is an antidote to burnout culture and an invitation to find joy, balance, and energy through the transformative power of rest.
Rest Easy invites you to experience the life-changing power of resting your mind, body, and spirit. In these pages, rest expert Ximena Vengoechea explores the power of rest and guides you through dozens of proven methods for relaxation and renewal, including movement, sound, visualizations, journaling, time in nature, meditative activities, and so much more.
Discover:
• A short quiz that reveals the ideal rest techniques for your personality and lifestyle.
• How to set healthy boundaries and overcome obstacles preventing meaningful rest.
• Bite-size practices to incorporate into everyday life for physical, mental, and spiritual rest.
PROVEN TECHNIQUES: The techniques and practices presented in these pages are proven to improve rest, reduce stress, and boost joy. The author distills her research to make a range of rest techniques accessible to everyone, allowing readers to experiment with a wide variety of practices and find what best fits their lifestyle and needs.
FRESH APPROACH TO HEALTH AND WELLNESS: Through a charming combination of beautiful artwork, compelling storytelling, engaging sidebars, and easy-to-follow takeaways, this book offers a distinctive approach to wellness and well-being. Warm and inviting, Rest Easy is a simple and authentic way to connect and be present for someone in need of gentle encouragement and uplifting support.
POSITIVE & TIMELY: This book presents contemporary methods for well-being in a simple, easy-to-engage format. Readers will discover information on practices for mindfulness, breathwork, yoga, and more.
MEANINGFUL SELF-CARE GIFT: The beautifully designed hardcover package is an infinitely giftable book that can be given to friends, wellness enthusiasts, and people experiencing burnout. The content is general enough to speak to a range of experiences, and the colorful art and empathetic tone make it a wonderful option for those looking for thoughtful, personal gifts for someone who needs a pick-me-up.
Perfect for:
• Mindfulness and wellness enthusiasts
• People experiencing burnout or seeking stress relief
• Parents, students, or anyone whose job or personal circumstances are causing suffering and burnout
• Wellness gift for women and men of any age
• Fans of Am I Overthinking This? and Vibrate Higher Daily
• Readers of How to Do Nothing, How to Not Always Be Working, and Rest Is Resistance
- Chronicle Books
- Hardcover
- September 2023
- 224 Pages
- 9781797219479
Buy the Book
$24.95
About Ximena Vengoechea
Ximena Vengoechea is a user researcher, writer, and illustrator whose work on personal and professional development has been published in Inc., The Washington Post, Newsweek, Forbes, Fast Company, and Huffington Post, among others. She is the author of the new book, Rest Easy: Discover Calm and Abundance through the Radical Power of Rest. Her previous book is Listen Like You Mean it: Reclaiming the Lost Art of True Connection. Ximena is the creator of the popular project The Life Audit, and writes a newsletter on staying curious, getting creative, and living well. Ximena is a keynote speaker on topics such as empathetic and inclusive listening, navigating difficult conversations, and preventing burnout. She previously worked at Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Twitter, and advises organizations and individuals on user research, executive communication, and resting well.
Praise
“Rest Easy is a warm and gentle guide for those of us who struggle to step off the productivity treadmill. Well-researched and based on good science, this book is a refreshing reminder that we are, after all, humans who need and deserve rest.” —Celeste Headlee, award-winning journalist and author of Do Nothing
“This book is a revelation. Vengoechea makes a powerful case for why rest matters, shows us how to vanquish obstacles to rest, and offers innovative techniques for making rest a reality in a too-busy world. Rest Easy explores burnout culture and how we can take agency to overcome it.” —Eve Rodsky, New York Times bestselling author of Fair Play
Discussion Questions
- Ximena Vengoechea frequently uses the phrase “aspiring resters” to refer to her target audience. What do you think of this expression? Why is it important to include “aspiring” in the phrase?
- “If you are part of a marginalized community, resting is likely to be both more out of reach and more urgent for you.” One of the biggest barriers to rest is privilege—or lack thereof. Because creating equitable rest won’t happen globally overnight, how could you see smaller groups achieving equitable rest within their communities?
- Ximena outlines five different rest profiles: intuitive resters, functional resters, gold-star resters, anti-resters, and deprived resters. There are benefits and drawbacks to each of the five profiles. Which profiles do you think are the most beneficial? Which—if any—are the most detrimental?
- Throughout Rest Easy, Ximena stresses that a lot of resting is reframing your perspective: doing the same things you would on an average day, but choosing to view them as opportunities to slow down rather than chores. Licensed therapist and author Nedra Tawwab states that “there is no such thing as guilt-free boundaries. Guilt is a part of the process.” How could the issue be shifted so that there could be more self-compassion instead of self-criticism?
- “Discomfort and boredom are signs that our brain wants to do what it evolved to do—wander.” Yet, with our phones offering constant distractions, most of us don’t know how to be bored anymore. What strategies from Rest Easy could people use to relieve boredom—or, better yet, accept boredom—the next time they feel the urge to mindlessly scroll social media? How do you see these strategies differing based on the age of the person?
- It’s interesting that people feel a pull towards the natural world, not just due to loving sunlight and trees, but also because of biophilia, which states that “humans have a biological need to connect with nature because we are of nature.” Even though we know the benefits of nature—and rest—we don’t always take time for it. How do you reconcile why we don’t always do the things we know are good for us, such as spending time in nature or resting?
- Ximena cites Dr. Stuart Brown’s concept of “play history,” which encourages people to reflect on their play experiences as a child to activate their ideal spirit of play. Do you think the same types of play that rejuvenated people in childhood changes or stays the same over time? What elements of your play history can you incorporate in your personal quest for rest?
- Over the course of Rest Easy, Ximena emphasizes that the quest for rest is highly personal and that not every strategy will work for everyone. What’s a new strategy discussed in this book that you want to try implementing into your life? What strategies do you not foresee being realistic, given your responsibilities or other personal factors?
- In between bits of wisdom and quotes from professionals, Ximena sprinkles in exercises and reflections to help you dive deeper into your quest for rest. Did you find them to be a helpful complement to the strategies outlined in the book? Was there a sidebar that you found particularly helpful or restful?
- Ximena concludes the book with seven final rest revelations from her time spent researching, writing, and resting. Did you find the revelations to be a fitting summary based on her examination of rest? How have your thoughts on the importance of rest—and the role it plays in daily life—changed from start to finish? A year from now, what do you hope your rest routine will look like?
Excerpt
FOREWORD
As someone who works in the healing space, I’ve come to see that rest and healing are intertwined. They need each other. When we need to heal anything, be it a physical ailment, like a broken bone, or an emotional ailment, like a broken heart, we need to rest. We need to take a moment, to press pause, to put our feet up, to commit to our restoration.
Unfortunately, we don’t live in a world that encourages us to rest, which is why it’s so important to have tools like Rest Easy that help us create ease in our lives. As you’ll see in these pages, there are so many ways to rest our minds, our bodies, and our spirits. Rest is personal; we each have to find what works best for us, to keep us filled up and energized. I’ve come to understand that emotional rest really fuels me. When I give myself a chance to rest emotionally and when I take a step back to connect with my true feelings and set healthy boundaries, I am reminded that I don’t have to solve everything today.
When we rest, we have the power to shift generational cycles of exhaustion. I’ve seen the people in my lineage—especially the women— do things on very little rest, and it’s not sustainable. By resting, I am breaking cycles. By resting, I am setting aside intentional space for slowing down. By resting, I am making space for joy, for presence, and for doing absolutely nothing.
The more people talk about resting and being present and doing nothing, the more we start to dismantle the systems that keep us from resting and the more we start to normalize taking things slow and giv- ing ourselves space to get clear on things without rushing. The more we rest, the more we disprove the idea that we have to always be doing something. The more we rest, the more we get to know ourselves.
Imagine how remarkable and how magnificent it would be if more of us were rested. To do that, we need to discover how to rest in ways that make us feel safe and supported. Rest Easy invites you to look at your life and to look at where you’re resting, where you’re not, and where you need to create the space to care for yourself. It reminds us to slow down, to be present, and to stop always doing. It invites you to take intentional pauses to get still, get clear, and be open to what’s in front
of you so that you can enjoy a nourished, abundant life.
—ALEXANDRA ELLE, New York Times
bestselling author of How We Heal