Happy summer. Is it time to take a break?

When’s the last time you took a break—not a trip, just a good, old-fashioned rest? Sara Rubin here, honestly struggling to remember. Time off is so precious that it’s almost always spent traveling somewhere, visiting someone, hosting a visitor or going on some kind of adventure. 

Those are rests in their own way, but different for body and mind than simply shutting things off. The folks at the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Monterey County are doing something to honor this idea of shutting off. The organization will close for a week starting today, from July 1-7, for its inaugural “Rest Up Week,” which is “designed to provide employees with a much-needed break to rest, reflect and rejuvenate, ensuring they return with renewed energy and continued passion for their vital work in mental health advocacy and support,” according to a statement.

NAMI provides advocacy and education to reduce the stigma around mental illness, and services include support groups for people with mental illness and for people whose loved ones have a mental illness. The local arm of this nonprofit has a five-person staff and by closing for a whole week, Executive Director Colleen Beye says they are modeling something that can help with mental wellness. 

“The hope is that all workplaces begin to better understand the connection between mental health and rest, and the fact the employees need some space to recharge sometimes,” Beye says. “The entire organization is pausing to take a breath. What we’ve heard from others is it creates more of an organizational rest than an individual rest. A big part of taking care of mental health is rest.”

Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean just staring out the window, although it could. In our conversation, Beye made me feel OK about using time off to be active rather than strictly restful. “Rest means different things for different people,” she says. “For some folks, adventure equals rest. For others, it just means turning off their phones and lying on their couch.”

Like most mental wellness practices, rest is customizable to the person and requires getting to know yourself. For me, getting out of cell phone range, even for a couple of hours, can deliver unmatched rejuvenation—or just leaving my cell phone at home. 

What do you do when you need a rest?

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