The Surprising Things I Learned in a Season of Rest

The summer of 2025, the Lord put it on my heart to walk away from my job. He had already been prompting and preparing my heart prior, so I took that step of faith and walked in obedience. I was in the middle of working through healing from the past and He was calling me to a season of rest during this time.

Below are some of the surprising things I’ve learned in this season of rest.

Hiding Behind Busyness

A season of rest sounds nice right? That’s what I thought, until I had wayyy too much time on my hands that I didn’t know what to do with. I didn’t realize how much I hid behind the busyness of work and life and went to distractions when I needed to fill my time until I no longer had those things.

Facing Yourself

With all this free time, I had to face myself. Something I didn’t realize I was avoiding. Each day as boredom set in, the flesh started rising up to the surface. I didn’t want to be alone with my thoughts, I wanted to find a distraction. But with everyone at work, and wanting to be mindful of not overly spending money, I didn’t know what to do. 

For weeks I really did not like this season. Some days I would just sit on the couch and endure the day until it was over, trying to push through. But now I’m starting to see that God knows what He’s doing. I didn’t like it because it was uncomfortable. 

Boredom Births Creativity

What I learned is that out of boredom births creativity. I started trying new things. I went on runs for fun and actually enjoyed it (who is she). I realized that I used to have to do it for sports and it was always timed and it was related to punishment, so I had a negative view of it – one filled with pressure. This time around I was able to go as slow as I wanted and stop and walk if needed. There was no pressure and I could enjoy the nature around me and even talk to God. This has led to a new joy of walking and hiking. These are also nice to do with a friend as well.

Another thing I tried and surprisingly enjoyed was crafting. I have never been big on crafting, it always took too long and for people who are perfectionists, it can become more tedious than enjoyable as you try to make it look perfect and start adding pressure to the process.

But God put it on my heart to do a couple of things with crafting. One was making a scrapbook collection of special moments from this season. I printed pictures and would write a note to capture these moments so I could go back to them and remember the good things. Another was creating advent calendars with my mom. I had to do this on a budget but it was fun figuring out what I wanted to create, and writing thoughtful and special notes of encouragement for each day. I found this very relaxing as I would work on a little bit each day. It gave me something to do and pour love into.

Discovering What You Don’t Like

This season can also help you recognize what you don’t enjoy. For one, I’ve been intentional to spend less time on my phone because I’m starting to see the negative impacts it can have mentally and how it can be a crutch to avoid things.

These are just a few of the things I’m discovering about myself. 

So for anyone looking for rest, just know it may not always look or feel how you expect at first. You may be confronted with your flesh and with uncomfortable moments. Allow yourself to sit in that uncomfortability and don’t fight it. See what God puts on your heart. 

Make a list, try new things. Discover what you like and don’t like. You may be surprised like I was. I’m still wrestling with some things in this season, but I’m learning to slow down, be present and value the little things each day.