On Embracing Creative Rest
Why Your Brain Needs More Than Just Sleep to Recharge
My theory is that high-IQ women (HIWs) are conditioned to prioritize logic, logical achievement, pragmatism, and things that have a traceable and tangible ROI. We overemphasize and glorify the measurable: test scores, salaries, campaign results, net worths, and portfolio projections.
We calculate Lean FIRE numbers over Cheerios.
The idea of doing things just because they might be enjoyable in that moment becomes ludicrous. Then we can’t even enjoy rest because of the subconscious pressure to make it suitable for consumption. Even if you don’t post online, you silently compare your simple shower routine to the 10-step one you saw online. Your 5-minute makeup is held up against the “beat” you saw on your FYP—(which girl are we on now? Clean? Glam? Messy? IDK).
This is a call into creative rest, not just sleep.
We’re going beyond sleep for the sake of this article. Sleep is imperative for body function, cognition, digestion, muscular repair, and overall health. But I know so many HIWs who sleep seven-plus hours and still feel deeply tired.
There is a biological basis to all of this that definitely needs to be evaluated and advised on by a medical professional. But today, we’re going to unpack the spiritual and emotional side, which we so often neglect.
What is creative rest?
Sleep is a great way to get physical rest, but it isn’t the only kind of rest you need. If you’re in need of mental rest, spiritual rest, or emotional rest, you will still feel depleted in your waking hours.
“What happens is, people tend to excel at getting certain types of rest while completely omitting other types, simply because they don’t know they exist.” - Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith
In her groundbreaking work, Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith explores seven distinct types of rest. Today, we are going to focus on creative rest.
Creative rest is the deliberate act of exposing yourself to artful, natural, or innovative environments. It is taking in the impact of creation—by God and by our fellow humans—without feeling any pressure to create anything ourselves in that moment. You simply notice and embrace the sensation of inspiration. You metabolize it, and you carry it with you.
We need this type of rest when we feel stuck, uninspired, or unable to develop new solutions to life’s problems. I think we especially need this as HIWs because logic, which we rely on so heavily, forces us to miss the forest for the trees. We lose sight of the bigger picture. We forget that, interspersed within the miracle of all that God created, we were also created. Our existence in this brief time passing through this planet is miraculous.
And we waste it hemming and hawing over things that may matter, but don’t matter deeply to us.
To be truly productive—which is what our souls crave as HIWs—we have to be aware of what we actually need. We have to recognize when our need for rest goes beyond the physical and when a creativity deficit is negatively impacting our daily lives.
“But Daneshé, I’m Not a Creative.”
Yes, you are.
It is societal conditioning that tells you you’re not. I believe that creativity is inherent to our identities and our very existence. In the same way you are a human being, you are creative.
How can I say this so confidently? Because you are made in the image of the greatest Creator there ever was, is, and is to come... and He calls you His child. Imago Dei. So whether you spend your days painting and potting or doing quantitative analysis, you are creative. Embrace that. Everything else becomes easier once you do.
To generate anything new—a work, a product, a solution to a problem, a result, or even a new question—is a generative, creative act.
Many of us HIWs are walking around deeply exhausted, even if we are sleeping eight hours, simply because we are disconnected from this part of ourselves. We continue to create work and produce results, but is it our best work? Is it the work that is most meaningful and impactful to ourselves and others? Does it align with the message we want to share with society? Or is it simply what we can scrape together with the limited energy we have left?
I believe we all have a magnum opus brewing inside of us. The final format of that is deeply up to the individual. But the light! The message! Is waiting to be pulled out—and we cannot pull it out if we are burned out.
Tapping into Generative Rest
Usually, the area of life we need to rest in is the exact one we are pouring out of the most.
Athletes need physical rest.
Visual designers need creative rest.
Socialites need social rest.
The “scroll-sick” need sensory rest.
But in this case, I want us to think of rest as something generative. When you are physically rested, generally well, and emotionally regulated, but you still feel that quiet yearning for more—to know yourself, to understand what you are here to do, to be, to create—we can enter into creative rest to begin tapping into that side of ourselves and see what comes out.
Here are three small experiments for you to try in your own life this week:
Experiment 1: Nature
We can take inspiration from our Creator to help us out here. Practice being fully present and observing what exists around you. The simple act of stepping away from the noise of our everyday lives and moving your body in nature can be both restorative and generative. It is a beautiful way to recharge your batteries. You can do this even if you live in a big city like I do! Sit in your local park, look up when walking the streets - the sun is still shining, the birds are still chirping! You’ll find something to love.
Experiment 2: Returning to Play
I think childhood us (or teen us) holds the key to who we truly are. Before the labels, the pressure, and the expectations settled in. Who were you? A dancer? A writer? A baker? An inventor? A gamer? What did you do with your unstructured free time? How can you integrate tiny bites of that sense of play back into your life now?
Experiment 3: Changing Your Surroundings
Two things can be true here at once: “same four walls, same four ideas”, and “you bring you wherever you go”.
While this experiment isn’t a free pass for escapism, science proves that we associate physical settings with certain behavioral cues. If you do your hardest, most stressful work at your office desk, that desk is probably not the best place to try and unplug. Even though your deeper issues won’t magically evaporate just because you change locations, changing your environment can be exactly what you need to relax, feel inspired, and step into your creative identity with more ease.
A Final Thought
I want to keep it simple with just these three examples today. I want you to choose just one, and physically add it to your schedule this week.
If you are currently thinking about your relationship to striving and achievement, please know that you are not alone.
If you want to go deeper on this work, unlocking your creativity is a vital part of your burnout and stress recovery journey. My door is always open. You can get in touch for one-on-one coaching here, or read the personal brand manifesto to help you get started.
Before we part, I want to know: how can you integrate a small moment of creative rest into your day-to-day this week?