Episode 145: 3 Ways to Rest Without Losing Momentum in Your Virtual Assistant Business

Full Episode Transcription:

(00:07):
Are you scared to rest and take a break because you feel like you’re gonna fall behind? Does it feel like there isn’t enough time to really get rested? Stopping to rest can feel impossible when you’re trying to grow your virtual assistant business. Keep up with your kids, do the housework, make time for God, make time for your spouse, all the things. However, God calls us to rest so that we can be replenished in him and have the energy to pour into the calling He’s given us. God rested after creating the world, which means we can rest too.

(01:54):
If he’s an almighty God and he can take a chill pill, so can we. Rest is not optional. It’s an inherent human need. That’s part of how we were created. When we don’t take the time to rest, this is when we start to get burnt out, feel anxious, and just start striving towards these crazy, crazy goals and getting overwhelmed. It can also lead to mental health issues, and then those issues don’t get taken care of properly. Life gets more difficult despite our best efforts to strive and work harder and all the things. You guys, burnout is the result of self reliance. If we’re relying on ourselves, we’re not trusting in God. If we can’t take time off to rest to refuel, then that means that we don’t trust that God can sustain our business. The other consequences of not resting is a lack of self care and a lack of fulfillment in our work.

(02:58):
God has called us to work in many areas of our lives, so it’s really critical that we take the time to rest and refuel our souls so that we can pour everything we’ve got into God’s purpose. For us, rest is inevitable. Whether it comes crashing into your life or you choose to welcome it, it’s gonna happen. So in today’s episode, I’m gonna share with you guys three ways to find rest without losing momentum in your virtual assistant business.

(03:29):
Number one, you need to find rest through God every single day. We can’t find physical rest until we find spiritual rest and refreshment in God. John 15 verses one through 17 reminds us that to persevere in our calling, we need to stay connected to the vine, which is Jesus. We can’t expect to experience success and God’s favor over our lives and businesses if we’re not connected to him.

(04:02):
For me, this looks like spending quiet time with God at least five days a week. That’s a period of rest for me because there’s a long list of things that I quote-unquote “have to do” that I could be using my time better for, but I’m sacrificing all of the housework that’s piling up the emails that need to be answered and the business projects that I think I should be working on. I’m sacrificing that to rest in God. This is such a beautiful time and leaves me feeling so rejuvenated. I truly love being able to wake up so my body is rested from sleep and then spend time with God so that I’m refreshed and my spirit is rested in him before I even start my day. When I make that a priority and I put God first, I have noticed a drastic difference in the days versus when I don’t do that.

(04:57):
Okay. The second way to create rest and not slow yourself down in your virtual assistant business is to create gray space in your week so that you can find rest more often. The way to create gray space is to create boundaries and open up space more often throughout your day, in your week, so that rest can occur in these spaces. Nothing is scheduled to happen a lot of times. As women and moms and just busy humans, we think that our schedules have to be jam-packed with things to do, and at the moment we have an open pocket of time. We think we need to fit something else in there. Even if it’s just 10 minutes, we go, “Great, time to do an extra load of laundry.” But if you flip that on its head, I want you to start thinking about gray space as your time to be less productive instead of being more productive.

(05:55):
You have to be okay with sitting in the mess and the undone tasks and taking time from all of the busyness to rest. This gray space is about learning to be present with God and not just go, go, go, go, go. Constantly bouncing from thing to thing. You have to allow yourself gray space. It’s about showing more obedience in your life to not do than to do. You have to be intentional about being unproductive. Otherwise, this time we’ll get absorbed into doing because that’s where we’re the most comfortable. There is seriously so much that God wants to say to us, and if we would just get quiet, sit and stop and sit in his presence, then he could tell us. But when we’re go, go, go, go going, He can’t. This also provides perspective and reminds us that it’s okay to not have it all together and be everything for everybody all the time. Sitting in the gray space, despite there being stuff to do, takes so much trust for me, it’s obedience, it’s healing, and it really fuels me to be able to do more in the long run.

(07:13):
All right. The third way to find rest and not allow yourself to fall behind in your virtual assistant business is to learn to take extended rest breaks. When was the last time you took an extended break? It is so crucial to take these extended breaks where you allow yourself to truly go inward. Any time I go away without phone service or away from my laptop, I get downloads from God, which lead to incredible things happening in my business when I get back. This blessing in my business came from not working in my business, which is very counterintuitive, but it shows God’s way versus the world’s way. The world says that if you stop working in your business, it’s gonna fall to pieces.

(08:00):
Whereas God says, Trust me with your business and honor my instruction to rest and I will bless your business, Y’all. There is a blessing. God is trying to show you if you stop being so busy. Also, taking a two, a three or a four day break doesn’t have to be expensive. You could go camping, you could have a staycation. If it’s too challenging having your phone and laptop around, try setting them on holiday somewhere. You can send them to your mom’s house. Leave them locked in your car for a few days. Whatever you need to do, Y’all, God loves us so much, he’s not going to punish us for rest. Instead, he’s gonna reward us for our obedience to him and his call to us to rest. So I pray that this blessed you and encourage you to take time to find rest. It’s a normal and vital part of our life, and taking time to really, truly rest helps us avoid burnout and allows us to show up at our best for our business.

(09:07):
It also teaches us to trust in God and that rather than lose momentum in our business, he often chooses to bless our businesses while we honor him by obediently resting, and it shows our kiddos that we don’t always have to do, do do, and we can just rest and know that God has our back. So I hope this episode blessed you. Let me know what you think and, and please, if you’re loving this show, I would be so grateful if you would take a moment to go and leave us a review. It’s what helps us reach even more moms and teachers like you who need to hear this message. So go to Apple Podcast, Search Ditch the Classroom, scroll the review section, click the five stars, write a couple sentences about how this podcast has helped you. It would mean so much to me. All right, y’all, I love you so much, and we will see you next time.