Investing our time intentionally is an investment in ourselves.

Rest and work are 2 sides of the same coin- not just rest, but active rest – a hobby, hiking, woodworking...the possibilities are endless.

Work takes our best hours, but deriving meaningful challenges from other pursuits allows us to recover and often helps us in our work. Psychologists advocate for rest, but not just watching Netflix and eating popcorn on the couch (my favorite thing to do). They say we need to do other things with our lives, activities that provide meaning and intention. Things like hobbies, sports, and activities that provide meaningful interactions. They advocate investing our time intentionally to invest in ourselves. Ultimately this investment in other activities actually helps us to be more creative, more inspired and often more energized for our work and relationships.

How can I carve out rest time or hobby time?

1) Carve out space in the week when work is not an option - This is really tough because most of us are carrying our work with us on our phones 24/7. However, we need to remember to be present in other parts of our life too. You don’t want to give your family, friends, spouse/partner only the leftovers, right?

2) Choose how to fill your time – Our identities and sources of meaning in our lives grow with how much attention we give to them, so we need to be intentional about what we care about. If you want to be a better friend, you need to care about being a friend. We need to invest in our relationships, carve out time to volunteer, or to study an instrument, to exercise.

3) Take time fully away from work when you can - As our work/life boundaries become increasingly blurred, it can be hard to fully disconnect from our jobs. Dream vacations may not always be possible, but taking vacation (or stay-cation) time to completely disconnect from your work can help re-energize you, reduce stress and bring a new perspective to your work. According to a study by the Pew Research Center , 48 percent of workers don't use all of their vacation days. It's easy to prioritize work, but time off is essential to your well-being and long term productivity.

Creating work/life balance is often easier said than done, but it is important to our well-being. Personally I carve out one night a week to get together with friends and play mahjong. I am not great at the game, but I love knowing that I have a weekly date that helps me maintain friendships in an otherwise very busy week.