Balancing Peace & Commitment: Knowing When to Push & When to Rest
One of the hardest parts about stepping out of survival mode is learning how to balance peace with commitment. For many of us, survival taught us that constant busyness was the only way to stay safe. We learned to push through exhaustion, suppress our needs, and treat rest as laziness.
But when you step out of survival and begin reconnecting with yourself, a new truth emerges: you can be deeply devoted to something and honor your need for rest.
The distinction often lies in passion. Think about the things in your life you feel drawn to invest in… a project, a relationship, a practice. Even if they require effort, they don’t feel like a burden. You want to show up, because your heart is in it. That right there is commitment rooted in authenticity.
On the other side is rest. And rest isn’t neglecting your commitments… it’s actually protecting them. Sometimes the most devoted thing you can do is step back, recover, and allow your body and mind to fully recalibrate. Without peace, commitment becomes burnout.
Recently, I was faced with a decision to make about this very thing. While planning some time off around an upcoming orthopaedic surgery (we’ll get to that in the coming weeks), I initially thought I could just take the week of the procedure off, and then jump back in two days after. Why? There’s a lot of things to create, develop, and implement, and I want to ensure that I honor the commitment to my business.
On paper, it looked doable. But in truth, it wasn’t realistic. My body was lowkey asking for more, and by more, I mean more rest. So, I listened to the intuitive pull and re-assessed the calendar. I knew deep down that I would need every bit of another week off to give my body the time it needed to calmly settle into my recovery and into what would be my new normal for a few months.
Now, that’s just half of the equation. The question then became, could I take the extra time off and still honor what I desired for my business? Yes, but with some foresight and some added effort. In looking at the path in front of me, I realized that if I put in some extra hours leading up to my procedure, I could do two things: First, I could create, develop, and implement all of the necessary material ahead of time, providing myself with a recovery period that had all of my business commitments handled. Second, I could take the recovery period to do exactly that… recover.
With that new structure, I didn’t just say, “okay, I’m going to work my ass off until my procedure and get whatever I can done.” No… this came with structure, planning, and a clear goal. I set out my content and material schedule in an organized way so that I understood fully what I’d be getting into. Then, I felt into it. Was I comfortable with this? Would this burn me out? Did I feel confident that I could pull this off and was it healthy to do this before a major procedure?
I sat with each of these questions and answered them honestly. I eventually came to the consensus that while this would be an elevated work schedule for about a month, it would, in the long run, be the best solution for both my personal health and my business.
This is just one example of consciously balancing commitments and peace. The road to my recovery is between 8-12 weeks, and with both my health and my business being incredibly important to me, I knew I wanted to honor both.
So, choosing to extend my time off wasn’t laziness… it was foresight. It was honoring the life I’d be living during recovery, not just the tasks on my list.
So what’s important to remember? Balancing peace and commitment isn’t about splitting your energy evenly. It’s about discerning when your energy is best spent moving forward, and when it’s best spent restoring. How can you tap into this discernment?
Reflection Prompts to Consider:
What commitments in your life feel like passion, not obligation?
Where are you staying busy simply out of habit or survival conditioning?
Can you identify an area where choosing peace today might actually strengthen your devotion tomorrow?
Practical Takeaway: This week, make note of one thing you’re deeply committed to. Then feel into one way you can proactively create space for peace, and rest, to support that commitment.
If This Resonated
If this spoke to you on any level, you can dive deeper with me in the following ways:
Sending all of the peaceful yet devoted energy your way 💫
~ Austen 🫶🏼
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