Take Heart

A Season of Unrest with Sara Clime

• Amy J Brown, Carrie Holt and Sara Clime • Season 3 • Episode 107

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We are continuing to talk about rest this month, and in today’s episode, Sara Clime discusses what it means to be in a season of unrest. If you are looking for a step-by-step podcast on how to find rest, this might not be it. But, if you are struggling and want to hear from someone struggling to find rest, or even want to define it, this episode is for you. 

November 15, 2022; Ep. 107

Show Links:

Show Takeaways: 

[1:49] What a season of unrest may look like
[4:56] How Sara found a moment of rest in her season of unrest 
[7:31] A simple practice for rest

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Sara Clime  0:08 
Welcome to Season 3 of Take Heart, where our goal is to offer encouragement, give hope and insight, so you can flourish in your journey as a special needs mom. As we explore monthly themes, and share inspiring stories and practical tips, our desire is for you to feel connected and encouraged. All of our resources including an entire written transcript of this episode are available on our website at www.takeheartspecialmoms.com There are also quick links to anything we mentioned in the show notes of this episode. Thank you for joining us today.

[1:04] Hi, this is Sara Clime, and I am so glad you're here with me today. We are talking about rest this month. To be completely honest, right now, in this current season of life, I am not doing rest well. I am struggling. I seem not to be able to find rest. What do we mean by rest anyway? Well, for me, when I think of rest, I don't think of the physical act of rest as sleep or lying down or being at rest, or resting heart rate. I think of the ability to find a restful state of being. I think of finding a restful heart or a restful state of mind, a restful spiritual connection, no matter what is going on around me.

[1:49] Right now in my life, that's not happening. In fact, I believe I am in a season of unrest. This is as good of a time as any to say; if you are looking for a step-by-step podcast on how to find rest, this might not be it. If you are struggling, and you want to hear from someone who is figuratively holding on by their fingernails at this moment and has done so before, who knows this too shall pass, who has had a bit of an aha moment recently, even while attempting to write this episode, then stick around.  As I said, I'm in a season of unrest. I have been here before, and I will be here again in the future. Now I'm not gonna lie; I tend to be here more often than I want. I am a doer. I am always striving for that next goal. If I'm not striving for a new goal, at a minimum, I'm trying to check off one of the many daily boxes on my to-do list. My seasons of unrest begin harmless enough. I'm busy. Sure. But if I buckle down and dig in, so to speak, things will look up, right? I tell myself, Sara, you just need to work harder. That's all. In complete transparency and vulnerability here, working harder for me usually means I'm avoiding feeling deeply. There are times my avoidance of rest means that I'm driving myself to a place of unrest, and that is usually to avoid feeling messy emotions. That's not always the case. More times than not, seasons of unrest are for one of two reasons. Yes, I either avoid saying no to things I need to say no to, or it's simply because my life is a crazy carnival freak show.

[3:40] Let's start with my inability or avoidance of saying no. Even at my age, after all this time, I still want to do things. I try to cram way too many things into my schedule, or I just don't want to let someone down, so I say yes when I know, I really don't have the time or energy to do that. That's the first reason I find myself in seasons of unrest. Not saying no. Let's talk about why I find myself in seasons of unrest. There's a saying when someone is telling you not to worry about a problem that isn't yours to worry about. They say, "It's not your circus, not your monkeys." In theory, I should be able to find rest because whatever is going on isn't mine to worry over; it's not my circus, so I shouldn't have to concern myself over the monkeys' antics. Well, there are seasons when it's my traveling circus. They are all my misbehaving, tree swinging. screeching, howling, banana stealing, flea picking, muck throwing monkeys. In other words, there are simply going to be seasons of my life where I will have unavoidable chaos. It is my circus, and they are my monkeys. 

[4:56] I am in such a season of unrest right now. I had no idea how I would write this episode on rest without being an absolute hypocrite. In fact, I told my cohost, Amy, I have no more words. I have no words for this one. It might only be a few minutes, and it might be a prayer for the feeling of unrest, because I'm struggling. I didn't think I could, in good faith, give words I didn't believe in. I prayed and prayed and prayed. I just still felt the prayer was inadequate. I felt rushed. I felt that it was lacking restful words. I felt like an absolute fraud. In a snit, as my grandma would say, I stormed out of my house, and I left my monkeys in my circus tent. I took a walk around my neighborhood; I got about two cul-de-sacs down before I realized I forgot my Fitbit, my earbuds, and my phone. It was just me, my snarky attitude, and Jesus. We walked quietly.  After one lap around my neighborhood, my snarkiness had dumped somewhat, and I felt more restful. I decided to take another lap around the neighborhood. By the time I got back home, I felt so much better. In fact, I felt restful. No, I wasn't out of my season of unrest. I knew I still had commitments that weren't going to end until a few months later. But I was able to grab moments of rest. I didn't realize it at first, but I soon figured out I had intentionally found a moment of rest, even amid this season of unrest. More importantly, I had, for a brief period of time, turned off the noise of my life and left myself open to be able to hear God. Without intentionally leaving margin in my life to hear God that afternoon, I wasn't experiencing His peace. Without experiencing His peace, I couldn't experience rest. Not only did I come back refreshed for my walk, I came back restful. I was also able to say no to things, even if it was just not to pick up the phone for an hour, while I was working on a few things that needed my intention that afternoon. While I was out walking.

[7:26] I felt God asking me, Sara, you're saying yes to a lot right now.  For every yes that you are giving, you are giving what or who? is getting your "no's"? That's just it; for every, yes, you give, someone is getting a no. Am I sacrificing my rest? If so, is it worth the cost? Am I saying yes to the right people? Am I saying no to the right things? I guess for me, this season of unrest. Finding rest can be as simple as the intentional practice of letting something or some things go to create margin in my life for what genuinely matters (be that family, friends, walk around the neighborhood, or just a moment to myself.) I feel Emily P. Freeman says it best in her book, The Next Right Thing. She says, "Quit something. It doesn't matter what it is. It doesn't have to be big. When you say no to something small, it could help to build your courage to say no to something bigger. Remember, it's not for the sake of saying no. It's so you can say yes to what really matters. It's not so you can get something you don't have yet. That leads to the never enough. Instead, you can move from a sure place of who you already are. Sometimes saying no is your only gateway to the world of your most meaningful yes."Friends, may your most meaningful yeses lead you to moments of meaningful rest.

[9:05] Thank you for joining us this week on Take Heart. Our prayer each week is for your heart to be encouraged. We are grateful you were walking on this journey with us. If you have any questions or comments, follow the links in our show notes. We love hearing from our listeners. Thank you for listening next week. Amy, Carrie, and I will all be together to wrap up this month on rest.