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Ovid - Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop · the Daily Quote - Positive Daily Inspiration and Motivational Quote of the Day

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  Welcome to the Daily Quote Podcast, designed to kick start
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  your day in a positive way. I'm your host Andrew McGivern
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  for August 15th, today's National Relaxation Day.
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  And what perfect timing. We're right in the heart of
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  summer when the pace of life traditionally slows down just a
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  little bit and we collectively give ourselves permission to
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  take things a little easier. National Relaxation Day was
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  created in 1985 by a nine year old Sean Mueller from Cleo,
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  Michigan. The child basically looked
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  around at the adult world and thought, you know what, these
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  grown-ups need a day just to chill out.
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  As luck would have it, Sean's grandfather, William D Chase,
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  was the founder of Chase Calendar of Annual Events, so
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  young Sean had the perfect platform to make his idea
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  official. And thank goodness he did.
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  Because in a world of always on, constantly connected devices
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  where we can work from anywhere, we need this reminder more than
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  ever. National Relaxation Day isn't
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  just about being lazy, though there's nothing wrong with that
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  today anyway. It's about recognizing that rest
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  and relaxation are essential for our mental and physical health,
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  not luxuries. We fit in eventually, when we
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  have the time. Which brings us to today's quote
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  from Maya Angelou. Just kidding, that's a good one.
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  Today's actual quote comes from the ancient Roman philosopher
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  Ovid, who once said take a rest. A field that has rested gives
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  that bountiful crop both that understood something that our
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  modern culture often forgets. Rest isn't the opposite of
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  productivity, it's actually the foundation of it.
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  Just like a field needs time to lie fallow to restore its
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  nutrients and prepare for the next growing season, we need
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  periods of rest to restore our mental, emotional, and physical
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  resources. Think about it.
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  Farmers who try to use their fields year after year without
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  letting them rest end up with depleted soil that produces
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  smaller and smaller harvests. But a field that's given time to
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  rest comes back stronger, more fertile, and capable of
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  producing an abundant crop. The same principle applies to
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  us. When we're constantly go, go
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  going, always producing, always busy, we start to deplete our
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  inner resources. Our creativity suffers.
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  Our patience wears thin, our joy diminishes, and ironically, our
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  productivity actually decreases. But when we give ourselves
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  permission to rest, really rest, not just collapsing from
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  exhaustion, we're not being lazy, we're being strategic.
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  We're investing in our future capacity to create, to problem
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  solve, to connect with others and define meaning in our work.
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  Ovid's agricultural metaphor is a perfect example because it
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  reminds us that rest is a natural cycle, not a luxury.
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  Just as plants need both sunlight and darkness, activity
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  and dormancy, we need both engagement and restoration.
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  I learned this lesson the hard way.
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  For several years I worked 2 jobs, my regular telecom sales
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  job during the day and a bartender or a comedy club
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  doorman by night. After a while I got used to
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  working a crazy amount of hours and I felt guilty about
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  relaxation, like I should always be productive, always be working
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  towards something. I literally didn't know what to
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  do with myself when I actually had the rare day off.
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  But my productivity and effectiveness started to
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  diminish and one day couldn't even get out of bed.
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  So I called in, exhausted and decided to stick with just one
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  job after that. It's weird because now I have
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  the opposite problem. Anyway, the lesson I learned is
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  to think of relaxation not as time wasted, but as time
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  invested. So today, in honor of nine year
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  old Sean Moyler's brilliant idea, give yourself permission
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  to truly relax. Take that walk, read that book,
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  sit in that chair and do absolutely nothing.
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  Listen to music, breathe deeply. I'm Anna McGivern, signing off
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  for now, but I'll be back tomorrow.
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  Same pod time, same pod station with another daily quote.