back from virginia. beautifully successful yoga retreat under my belt. time with my mom, which was especially important after the recent loss of my grandmother. heart full after a lovely impromptu birthday celebration. bouyed by incredible friendships with incredible people. I find myself, as I feel most days these days, deeply grateful.

the best way I can describe things is that I'm in a reintegration phase.

the last year of travel and movement and immense change have been tremendously growth inspiring, but also frankly exhausting. arriving at the end of this 7-month run, last week I felt the lurch and the comedown and a huge sense of relief in having time to be home rather than on the road. I haven't slept in the same bed for more than a week since may.

at the same time I feel like I'm at the most critical career juncture I've ever faced. I've been working my whole life to be doing what I'm doing right now.

I'm often reminded at times like these, of a lesson I learned running track in high school and college: rest is part of training.

the training actually tears us apart: it's the recovery period of rest where we get stronger. rest is everything. it keeps us from getting injured, it keeps us in balance.

I found an article on the topic online, which is actually called "overtraining can kill you." it does a great job of explaining the physiological effects of overtraining. if you google "rest is part of training," you'll find lots of articles on the topic. and of course, I believe the lesson applies directly to life and work of all sorts, not just physical training.

rest is not just something we do when we're worn out. and it's far from a sign of weakness. it has nothing to do with failing or being lazy. it's actually critical to success, balance, and wellness over time.

most of life is a marathon, not a sprint. sure, we train to be able to fire on all cylinders at critical junctures, but we're not meant to be firing all day every day. in fact, living every day like we've been shot out of a cannon is really really bad for us, and frankly not very smart. because the running pulls us apart, and strength and growth come from healing back together.