Take Care

This year, I took two actions for Inquiry Editing LLC that were forms of self-care: I took a portion of the summer off from blogs and I also am taking December off. Most small business owners do not forfeit chances to connect with their audience. I willingly let go of that chance in order to be a better editor in the long run.

I edit in the tradition of Jessie Redmon Fauset and Toni Morrison: editors who were writers in their own right, and whose task – as they envisioned it – was to cultivate writerly talent so each writer could sound more like themselves. As a result of operating in that tradition, I take care: of myself, of my craft.

During these moments of break, I am reading, watering my plants, and minding my own business. I am playing with new recipes, watching new television, putting together new puzzles. I am making room for rest.

It would be a lie to tell you that I take a break in order to work harder. I take breaks because I need them. I do not exclusively need them for more production. Instead, I need them because rest is a human dignity.

Does rest help you be more productive? I don’t know. Capitalist common sense says it does because if you rest, you can work more. But, if you rest only to work, is your rest fulfilling your needs or someone else’s?

Does rest make me better at my craft? Yes, but not because rest from one task equals work in another. Rest, relaxation, ease – they serve the purpose of letting me be, not do, not have. In being, simply being, I find peace. I work from a posture of peace toward peace.

Tis the season y’all…. For rest. Let that be your gift to yourself, your end-of-the-year savings.

In case you need some help from Bedside Baptist in Bedfordshire, Restland, find in your TikTok hymnal the selection “Go Lay Down” by NaJe.