Episode 31: Linger Longer – Incorporating Rest in Your Day or Week

 Linger Longer – REST works BEST when it's a rhythm not a rescue. 

In a world that glorifies hustle, rest can feel impossible—or even lazy. But here’s the truth: rest is not weakness, it’s fuel. 

In this episode of the Change Chasers Podcast, we explore how to incorporate intentional rest into your daily and weekly rhythms so you can reconnect, refuel, and resist burnout.

 HOT TAKES include:

1.    Rest as resistance against burnout

2.    Rhythms of rest that actually work

3.    Rest as reconnection to what matters

4.    Rest as fuel for your purpose

 Listen now, slow down, and learn how to linger longer.

#ChangeChasers #Podcast #Rest

Faith in Action // Change in Motion

Transcript

0:20

Well, hey friends. Welcome back. Here's another episode. Of the Change Chasers podcast. I am so grateful that you press play today. I know that we live in a world that celebrates speed, hustle, and productivity. And I also know that oftentimes it can feel like we are rushing behind, right? Or or a Russian here going there, but sometimes we feel like maybe we're falling behind in life. And so I think that there is some truth. That we would all probably agree upon that rest is not a luxury. I believe that rest is a necessity. So with that said, today we're going to be talking about what I like to call for this episode. I am titling it as linger longer. Linger longer. Say that five times fast, right? But linger longer with the idea that y'all, hopefully this will encourage each of us, yourself, myself included, to slow our role just a bit, right? Being willing to slow down. Stop taking some deep breaths maybe, and even making room for rest in your day or in your week. I understand that it may not necessarily be as possible every day to pencil in some rest, but I think that it is really, really important to inspire you as a listener to linger longer. Because if we don't, burnout really is real and it can happen. And so I wanna hopefully encourage us with this episode to think about how are we intentionally building rhythms of rest that hopefully will refresh our souls, our mind, our body, our spirit. And so I hope that this episode will hit home for each of us. I know as I was preparing the content that I wanted to talk about today, I was encouraged. I was challenged, but also inspired with the idea that I needed to hear this. And so I am guessing sweet friends that you would agree. Especially in the hustle and bustle of Christmas season as it is among us here in the us. I know that we have international listeners and you may not celebrate Christmas, um, as necessarily in the same way that we do in the United States, but I do hope that regardless of where you're listening from, that today's episode, we'll be a blessing to you and to be able to help you to lean into the idea of giving yourself permission to linger longer. And so we're gonna jump right on in to today's episode, hitting you right out of the gate with hot take number one. Rest is resistance. And so what I mean by that is y'all, if we will take time to rest in our go, go, go culture. I know that that feels counter-cultural because, well, it is when you choose to rest, you're saying, I'm not defined by my productivity. I'm more than my to-do list. And so hopefully giving you the opportunity and listening to this, I'll get you to stop and just think about even God rested on the seventh day. So when I stop and I go, whoa, wow, okay. If the creator of the universe modeled rest, maybe it's worth our attention. For us. Rest might look like putting your phone down. Anybody else to carry their cell phone Everywhere you go. Real talk. I think that we all do that from time to time, right? I mean, gosh, we, we got this next call, we can't miss that email or that text message is coming through all of the things. And so I realized that that is really real and so rest for, for you may be. Just that the actionable step of putting your phone down, maybe rest is saying no to one more meeting or maybe rest is choosing to pause instead of pushing through. And so thinking about the hot tech number one point of rest is not weakness. It's resistance against burnout. So give yourself permission, sweet friends, to think about how can you provide yourself some protection for resistance against burnout? Because I've burned out before and it is no fun. No bueno, right? Not good when that happens. And so I wanna encourage you, linger longer. Whatever actionable step that you can give yourself the gift of maybe not penciling in every free moment of every day. Hot, take number two. Rest can be rhythmic, not random. Most of us, I think, wait until we're absolutely exhausted before we rest or we get sick, right?'cause we run our body in the ground, as I, I'll say, we rush, rush, rush. We go, go, go. And then we, before we know it, our body just cannot continue to keep up at that pace of trying to grind all the time. And so. Oftentimes we don't rest unless we are absolutely sidelined because we're exhausted. That's kind of like the whole idea though, of thinking about the thought process of waiting until your car engine blows before you go and get an oil change, right? There's ramifications that happen if we continue to grind and go and do all of the things, and so my encouragement. And hot. Take number two today is instead build rhythms. Right? Build some rhythms of rest into your day or even hopefully your week. Maybe just slow your roll a bit to have a morning cup of coffee without multitasking, just sitting and sipping on your coffee right now as Christmas season for everybody likes to put up a tree. Maybe just sit and gaze at the beauty of your Christmas decor, your tree, the lights, or just the simplicity of. Nothing, you know, just slowing a roll in the quiet, sipping on some coffee, some hot tea, or if you're a Coca-Cola or Pepsi drinker, then by all means, like you do you whatever brings you joy in however you like to start your day, but also maybe a 10 minute walk after lunch could be implemented. I'm trying to do that, get up and move my body some. That way it can kind of help with creating some different rhythms throughout your day, or possibly even giving yourself the gift of a weekly Sabbath where you really do unplug from work and recharge. And so it doesn't necessarily have to be long hours and all day kind of thing necessarily. But we've talked about micro moments on the podcast before, and so my encouragement would. The hot Take two today is just getting you thinking about how can you build rhythms of rest into your day? Your interior week is, even micro moments of rest will help you to be able to build resilience. Hot take number three. Rest works best when it's a rhythm, not a rescue. I'm gonna say that again'cause I think that's just such a great word. Rest works best when it's a rhythm, not a rescue a. Because too often we treat rest, and I'm saying we, because I'm right here with y'all in the trenches, all the things, right? We treat rest like it's an emergency exit, something that we run to only when we're drained, when we're burnout or. If we're in the process of breaking down, but the kind of rest that is reactive, I think that it's, it's like a rescue mission that pulls us out of exhaustion rather than a rhythm that keeps us from falling into it. And one thing that I know that God's really been teaching me all throughout 2025 is that God never designed rest to be a last resort. From the very beginning, he will rest into creation itself. It tells us in the Bible that on the seventh day he rested, not because he was tired, but because he was teaching us something. Rest isn't about weakness. I think rest is about worship. It's a sacred rhythm that reminds us we're not sustained by our own efforts. Simply by father God's grace. So when rest becomes a rhythm, a regular pattern built into our lives, our weeks, our days, right, our daily moments that take place, I think that it's such a gift to us because it restores rather than. Merely recovers. It keeps our souls aligned, our minds clear, and our hearts tender. It's in those pauses y'all, that we get to make room for God's presence, for his clarity, and even for the gift of renewal. And so I just wanna encourage you in this point, or this hot take as I call'em on here, is rest works best when it's a rhythm, not a rescue. And then it leads me to hot take number. What number am I own? Friends? I don't know. I think I'm on four ish. Whatever it is y'all. Um. I think that rest reconnects you though, just making the point that when you are willing to linger longer, you create space to reconnect with God, with yourself, and also with people around you. But busyness disconnects us. It pulls us in a million directions, but rest grounds us. So hopefully that's a cool little thing that maybe you've not stopped and slowed down and thought about too much in the hustle and the bustle and the busy and the grind is that rest grounds us, grounds us back to what matters the most. Our people, our spaces, our places, our divine assignments, right? All of the places that we are entrusted. To love others well, to be able to serve, to be able to help people to grow, but also to exist in community. With that rest is what grounds us and helps us to get right on back to what matters the most. And so in thinking about all of that, I just think that it's really special to stop and, and give ourselves the gift and, and saying just the sensibility of, instead of rushing through prayer. Linger in it instead of scrolling at dinner. Linger in combos, right? Linger in conversation with whoever you're getting to eat with instead of sprinting through your day. Linger in moments that allow you to see all the things that you have around you. To have a heart posture of gratitude with. That'll help you to be connected in an attitude of gratitude mindset shift that is a game changer. And so thinking about the power of allowing yourself to be able to be your best, it does require you to rest and allowing rest to be what reconnects you to what really matters. My hot take number five is I believe that rest refuels your purpose. And so thinking through that, I mean y'all just real talk. I think that the thing on this is that rest isn't just about slowing down. It's about fueling up, fueling up, fueling up. You know, I know I'm country and I may be hard to understand, but what you put in is what comes out, right? And so thinking about what are you allowing to fuel you as you go through your day? The reality of it is, is y'all, we can't chase change as a change chaser. That's what this whole podcast is about, right, is that you can't chase change. You can't dream big or live with purpose if you're running on empty. As I've shared before, I work in a sports ministry and so I'm, my mind naturally connects things with athletes, right? The mindset of that, and like I know that athletes know this, that you can't run on empty, right? Your muscles don't grow during workouts. They grow during recovery. The same is true for your soul. Our souls is that our purpose grows in the pauses. I hope you're hearing me on that Sweet Friends. Is that. Your purpose grows in the pauses. Give yourself the gift of rest so that you can grow in the middle of the moments that you give yourself the opportunity to hit pause. Because as I was wrapping up this whole hot take and thinking about it is that I wanna say that I don't think rest is wasted, right? Rest is not wasted time. It's preparation for impact or. As this hot take is labeled out, rest refuels your purpose. So as closing out the episode, I hope that this has encouraged you and given you some things to make you stop and go. Hmm. You know, and just letting you have the opportunity to be reminded, to give yourself the gift of. The hot takes as we went through right? Number one, rest is resistance against burnout. Number two, rest works best when it's rhythmic, not random. Number three, rest reconnects you to what matters the most. Number four, rest refuels your purpose. And number five, rest is not wasted. Y'all. It's not wasted time. It's preparation for impact or rest is what refuels your purpose. As we circle back to reiterate that point for moment, that can be momentum for the movement that God wants to do in and through you. So sweet friends. I do wanna challenge you as our C3 time, our takeaway time this week, our Change Chaser challenge linger longer. Will you, will you take that challenge on? You might even wanna hashtag it out some. Tag me a few. You do social media and, but I am challenged by the Change Chasers podcast that I am going to linger. Longer this week. Maybe take five more minutes with your coffee. Pause for a deep breath between meetings, or even set aside a chunk of time where rest is the priority I. And so my takeaway hope for you guys from today's episode is that you are so slightly reminded that you don't have to have the mindset that you have to earn rest because my friends, you were designed for it. So instead of waiting until you're worn out to rest. Will you start building it into your rhythm? Will you let it be a part of your obedience, not your emergency? Because true rest isn't just about stopping y'all. It's about sinking. It's about sinking up with your pace with, I believe the one father God, who gives you and I the strength to be able to practice the pursuit of peacefulness and rest, right? Because there's no doubt about it. It will help you to be able to provide sustainable passion as you operate in your best yeses. And also, hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Pass the extra fries because if we can fulfill the Lord's purpose for our lives. Man, what a gift, y'all. That's what I desperately desire to do daily, is to be able to operate in our best yeses so that we can fulfill the Lord's purposes for our lives. And so in doing so, that might just require us to linger a little longer. Thanks for joining me today, sweet friends on this episode. I hope that you will continue to chase change to give yourself the gift of growing as you're going. And so until next time, I say let's keep chasing change and living with purpose. Goodbye, sweet friends.