Speaker 1: 0:06

Greetings and welcome. Welcome back to the sweet spot. Today is Saturday, but not just any Saturday. It is self-care Saturday, a time to restore, and we've been spending this entire week exploring the concept of time and why time is so important. We've talked all week about time as this invisible thread that's running through our lives at all times, and it's almost like we're on this race track running this race, but the track itself is time, the referee is time, the finish line is time, everything is time. So almost everything we do in our lives is involved in time, and when my wife, darcelle, gave me this topic to talk about this week, I didn't think we could get a week out of this. But boy, we have seen how time can affect making moves on Monday, taking our actions with our decisions on Tuesday, helping us to win the race against time. On Wednesday, looking at ourselves as already being winners, and then trusting ourselves on Thursday, looking at the idea that we have to trust not only in time but in ourselves to get things done in time. And then, of course, there was Finish Strong Friday yesterday, where we saw the importance, the absolute importance, of having perseverance and determination and how that can infuse itself into our time management to get across the finish line, especially when we're at the 18th mile of a 26-mile marathon. And this brings us, my friend, right back here to self-care Saturday, where we've got to think about restoring ourselves.

Speaker 1: 1:59

Restoration is a key element in the game of time, because if we don't restore, we don't reset ourselves, we could run out of time and we would be ill or not even here. So look, anne Lamont had the greatest quote ever. We've used it here before on the Sweet Spot. She said almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you. My friends Sweet Spotters, listen up, let's talk. Let's talk about really restoring ourselves and why we don't even give ourselves the time to do it. We talk so much about time as a tool for action, for movement and discipline, but today, today, we should talk about time as a period of restoration, especially in a world that never stops moving. In a world that never stops, self-care can feel like a bit of a revolution.

Speaker 1: 3:11

Self-care often feels like a luxury, but here's the truth Rest isn't a break from progress, it's part of progress, and recovery in the athletic world and in the sports world is a big deal. You want your athletes and your performers to be able to be in the race for the long haul, to be able to finish the season, to be able to come back after a grueling game and still be able to perform at a high peak. So do you. We need to do that every single day. Just yesterday, I was feeling, oh my God, I'm so tired, I needed self-care, I needed to recover. So look, the physiology is clear. Just like muscles need recovery after a workout, your mind and your body need time to recharge. It's just that simple. Rest is not being lazy. It's how you come back stronger. And if you don't do it, what happens is the blood pressure goes up, the heart rate starts to get elevated, the blood vessels begin to tighten, the muscles tighten around everything, and then you get sick or your immune system suffers. So that's why it's important to have strategic rejuvenation. I don't know if you remember I said a few podcasts ago that instead of calling it self-care, I call it strategic rejuvenation. It just sounds so much more strong and so much more like intense, and maybe that'll get people to do it, as opposed to saying, hey, self-care.

Speaker 1: 4:47

The other advantages in the neuroscience is that when you sleep and you slow down, your brain actually processes information better. Rem sleep is critical to cognitive health. Rem sleep is critical to cognitive health. So sleep in the neuroscience is a stress reducer. It enhances creativity. It helps you not only physically but mentally, and rest and recovery also bring spiritual insights. Look, even in the creation story there was a day of rest.

Speaker 1: 5:20

Time isn't just about work, it's about renewal. That's how everything works. The sun rises and it sets. If you look at nature, there's light and there is dark. There are seasons where the leaves are beautiful and then they fall. So everything is on this cycle.

Speaker 1: 5:44

And while I'm on this tangent, let me tell you that time is also an internal and an external thing. Sometimes we think that time is only external. It's not. It's definitely an external phenomenon, but it's also an internal construct or process inside of us. Did you know? There's a nucleus in the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus and bear with me, I'm definitely on a tangent right now, but I do feel it's important to mention to you that there's this suprachiasmatic nucleus in the brain and it regulates something called the circadian rhythm in us. It helps us understand the light-dark cycles. It actually helps us with sleep and when to wake up. Your body and my body is on a time cycle. It knows when it's time to sleep, it knows when it's time to eat, it knows when it's time to do various activities. So, yeah, time is internal and it's external.

Speaker 1: 6:41

And the body, when it doesn't get rest, it just breaks down or creates something like illness to make you have to slow down. You've been there, right, you know that kind of thing, where you're like my God, you know, if I don't slow down, I'm going to get sick. Or if I got sick it's because I didn't really rest, so then I'm going to get sick. Or if I got sick it's because I didn't really rest. So why do we resist it? You know why? Because we feel guilty. Society glorifies being busy, making rest look very unproductive. We feel guilty, or we are addicted to movement. It's not just social media, sometimes. We just get addicted to doing and it gives us this false sense of progress I'm doing something, I must be doing great, because I'm busy all the time. That's an addiction too.

Speaker 1: 7:25

Another thing we don't prioritize it, because if you don't make time for rest you, then it's never going to happen. But, as I'm telling you, your body will force you to take it eventually. And even in ancient wisdom, there were always these reminders of the importance that the ancients gave to rest right. Come to me all ye who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. In the book of Matthew, you know, scripture reminds us that rest isn't optional, it's necessary. We've got to integrate this into our self-care.

Speaker 1: 8:02

How do we do that, though, when we're so busy? Well, look, the first thing you have to schedule rest like it's a priority. It's not on your calendar. It won't happen. Treat it as an essential. Just as you put in a Zoom meeting in the calendar, put in the rest schedule in there and make it important. You are important. We need you. Without you, a lot of things won't go well, and so many people depend on you and really want you around.

Speaker 1: 8:35

The second thing is to protect your energy. Right, not all rest is physical. Sometimes you've got to disconnect from technology. The stress of bright lights and blue lights and pings and lights and all of that stuff Protect your energy. You don't have to always be sleeping, you just take a break from the phone.

Speaker 1: 9:01

The third thing is to find your reset button, whether it's reading, walking, meditation or prayer. Do you know how many of us don't have that as part of what we do and I know, when I'm not on top of my game, I have no time for walking or meditation or prayer or reading and these are the things that truly restore us. We have to make what for it. Fill in the blank, make blank for resetting yourself. Time, yeah, time, this is about time. So, yeah, embrace the rest without guilt. Remember that burnout um, burnout doesn't mean you're productive. Some people come to me and they're like, well, yeah, I'm really burned out and they wear it as a badge of like honor. What I'm telling them is that, hey, you're ignoring warning signs that will come back to haunt you.

Speaker 1: 9:47

Physiologically, this can translate into cardiovascular disease. It could translate into poor nutrition and diabetes or something like that. It could also also translate into immune dysfunction and give you more colds or more susceptibility to immune dysfunction type diseases. It could lead to smoking or other kinds of things that could also lead you to cancer.

Speaker 1: 10:11

So it's very important that we build in this self-care thing, because so many diseases and conditions are tied into the lack of self-care, the lack of understanding that we have a nerve in the brain called the vagus nerve, one of the cranial nerves not the tangent here, but let me do it. There's a cranial nerve called the vagal nerve and it's a wandering nerve. It's the longest of the cranial nerves and it goes all the way into the gut and throughout the body. And when we meditate, we relax and we pray and we do all of those positive things, we create more vagal tone because this nerve, the vagus nerve, feels more privileged and we go from fight and flight into more of a rest, digest, relaxing kind of a way, and we're really helping our blood pressure, our heart rate, we're really bringing life, we're pouring life into our body. We're reducing inflammation and all those inflammatory cytokines get to kind of rest. And that, my friend, is life to you, it is life to you and it's free. So look, where in life do you need to rest?

Speaker 1: 11:23

This is Self-Care Saturday. Are you running on empty? Are you ignoring signs, or are you willing to pause for 5 to 10 minutes, 15 minutes today, resetting yourself, renewing yourself, recalibrating yourself, restoring yourself so that you can move forward. Remember the quote that we started with Almost everything works better if you unplug it for a few minutes, even you. And remember the scripture Come to me all ye who are weary and burdened, and I'll give you rest. Okay, that's your Self-Care Saturday.

Speaker 1: 12:02

Talk today, take care of yourself. I'll see you tomorrow for Slow Down Sunday, where we're going to talk about why stillness is just as powerful as movement. Wow, I can't wait to hear that one. All right now. Until then, take care of yourself, love yourself, be kind to yourself, be compassionate to yourself, because when you do all that for yourself, you're really able to give it to others. You can't give others what you don't have All right now. This is Dr Sweet. Let's do this. Let's close out tomorrow for Slow Down Sunday. I'll see you on Instagram, tiktok, I'll see you on threads, and I can see you on YouTube. Be blessed, my friend, be blessed. Talk to you soon. Bye.