Episode 255: Taking Time to Rest in Your Virtual Assistant Business

Full Episode Transcription:

[00:00:00] Y’all, it is almost December. Can you even believe it? It feels like it was just January like a half second ago. With December comes all the busy preparations for Christmas and all the different holidays. And spending time with family and just wanting to take a break from all of the work that’s on our plates. I don’t know about you, but that’s how I feel in December. Like, I really do not want to work. I want to be able to rest. But it can feel really scary. You take that time to rest. It feels like you are going to miss out on new clients, miss out on more income, and just not be able to hit the goals that you want to hit. But I just wanted to record this episode to encourage you that it is possible.

[00:00:54] Y’all, if God created the world in six days and then rested on the seventh, We can rest, too. If our God’s gonna do it, we are gonna do it, okay? And He calls us to rest in Him. It is not optional. Rest is an inherent human need and it’s part of how God created us. When we don’t take the time to rest, we start to burn out, we get anxious, we start overworking, it can lead to mental health issues, which we’re in winter season and I don’t know about you, but like seasonal depression is a real thing around here. So I don’t want to start having issues on top of that, you know? So I want to make sure I’m resting and filling my cup. And so in this episode, I’m going to help you do the same thing. When we start to feel that burnout, it’s because we’re relying too much on ourselves. And when we rely on ourselves, we’re not trusting in the God who made us. If we can’t take time to rest, that probably means that we don’t trust God to sustain us through that rest. You guys rest. It’s going to happen. It’s going to happen whether you make time for it or whether it comes crashing into your life. So I want to share with you three ways that you can find rest without losing momentum in your goals.

[00:02:25] Whether that’s in your virtual system business, just in your motherhood, your nine to five, whatever it is. I want to help you find rest every single day so you can feel rejuvenated and ready to hit your goals all the time. The first way that you can find rest is by finding rest through God every single day. Y’all, we can’t find physical rest until we find spiritual rest in God. John 15: 1-17 reminds us that to persevere and to make our calling a reality, 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 our businesses if we’re not taking the time to connect with Him.

[00:03:17] So for me, this looks like spending quiet time with God in my morning routine, and I aim to do that at least five days a week. So that is a period of rest for me because there’s a long list of things that I have to get done. But when I take the time in the morning to do this first, to have this time with God first, that means I’m sacrificing all the housework that’s piling up, the emails that need to be answered, the business projects that I think I should be working on.

[00:03:48] I’m setting all that aside, and it is such a beautiful time that leaves me feeling so well rested and ready to tackle my day. I love being able to wake up so that my body is rested from sleep, and then spend time with God so that I’m rested. I’m rejuvenated in Him. So when I make that a priority and put God first, I have noticed a huge difference in the way that my day goes versus when I don’t do that. So number one, we need to rest in God every single day. This doesn’t have to take a lot of time. It takes me like 15, 20 minutes. If that happens, you can make that time. Okay. The second way to find rest in your days is to allow more white space in your week. Don’t fill your days with every single thing, don’t say yes to every single thing. Having white space means creating boundaries and opening up space more often for rest to be able to occur. So in these spaces nothing is already scheduled to happen and we just have the time to sit and chill and do what we want to do. In today’s world, we think our schedules have to be jam packed with things to do, taking the kids to this event, volunteering at this event, doing this for somebody, and it’s just a one way ticket to burnout.

[00:05:17] Every time we see an open pocket of time, we feel like we have to put something in there. Even if it’s just ten minutes, we’re like, great, I have time to do a load of laundry. And you guys, I am the first to say, I am so bad at this. Sometimes I see an empty hour before I have to get my kids from daycare. And I’m like, Oh, what can I knock out that I wouldn’t be able to do when they’re here in the house? And maybe God just wanted me to have that hour to like sit and stare and do nothing and think and pray. Maybe that’s what he’s calling me to do, but I’m filling that time with useless tasks that are going to get done eventually. So, in those white spaces, your job is to be less productive instead of being more productive. It’s the to don’t list. You have to be okay with sitting in the mess and the undone tasks and taking time away from the busyness of life to rest. It’s about learning to be present with God and not just going constantly, bouncing from thing to thing and feeling every waking moment.

[00:06:23] You have to allow that white space. It’s about showing obedience in your life to not do things versus do things. You really have to be intentional about being unproductive when you have this time. Otherwise, that time is going to get absorbed into doing because that’s where we’re most comfortable.

[00:06:43] There’s so much God wants to say to us if we just get quiet and sit in His presence. The third way that you can find rest and make sure you’re not losing momentum is to build in time for extended rest breaks. So, I want to ask you, when was the last time that you took an extended break? Maybe you took a week off from working at all. When was the last time you did that? It is so crucial to take those extended breaks where you truly get to go inward and reflect and spend time with God and make sure you’re on the path that He has for you. Anytime I go somewhere without phone service, I get downloads from God, which lead to incredible things happening in my business when I get back.

[00:07:28] If I didn’t take that time, I’d just be chugging away, but probably not even on the path God really wants me on. So taking that time has been a blessing in my business. Not working in my business has allowed my business to grow, which seems counterintuitive, but it’s God’s way. It’s not the world’s way. It’s God’s way. Here’s why. The world says if you stop working in your business, it’s gonna fall to pieces. But God says, trust me with your business and honor my instruction to rest and I will bless you. There is a blessing God is trying to show you if you stop being busy. And y’all, making a two, three, 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 your laptop around, try sending them on holiday somewhere. Like, send your laptop to your mom’s house for a few days. God loves us so much that he is not going to punish us for rest. He is going to reward us for our obedience and taking the time to rest in him.

[00:08:35] All right, y’all. I pray that this episode blessed you and encouraged you to take time to find rest. It’s a normal and vital part of life. Taking time to rest helps us avoid burnout, show up at our best for our business. It teaches us to trust in God and that rather than losing momentum in our business, he’s going to bless our business because we’re honoring him by obediently resting. So I hope you love this episode. I challenge you, find a couple hours of rest in your week and come and share that with us in our free Facebook group facebook.com/groups/virtualassistantmama. You can do it. I promise the world’s not going to cave in if you take a little bit of time to rest.