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It’s a strange feeling, being exhausted but unable to rest.
Your body is tired. Your eyes are heavy. You want to lie down, to slow down, to switch off. But your mind won’t let you. It keeps going. Thoughts keep circling. Tension stays in your shoulders. You lie still, but nothing inside you feels still.
I used to fight it. I’d scroll. I’d get up and try to do something useful. Or I’d lie there frustrated, wondering why I couldn’t just fall asleep like a normal person.
What helped was not another trick or routine. It was changing how I approached that wired state.
I stopped trying to force rest and started making space for it to arrive.
Instead of expecting my body to instantly respond, I gave it signals. Signals that it was safe to let go. That nothing more was needed. That I was not trying to win at resting. I was just giving myself permission to stop doing.
One of the simplest things I started doing was this: I would sit down, turn off all the noise, and let myself do nothing for five minutes.
No phone. No music. No multitasking.
Just sitting, breathing, being.
Not meditating. Not controlling my breath. Just letting the moment be quiet and uncomplicated.
At first, it felt strange. My mind still raced. But after a few minutes, something started to settle. Not fully, not perfectly, but enough. Enough to feel a shift. Enough to let go of that constant hum that had been running in the background all day.
It reminded me that rest isn’t always immediate. It sometimes needs a little space to land.
Now, when I feel tired but wired, I give myself that space. I don’t push for sleep or stillness. I invite it. I prepare the conditions and let it come when it’s ready.
If you’ve been stuck in that in-between state, where your body is worn out but your mind refuses to slow down, try this.
Sit down. Do nothing. Let your thoughts keep moving if they want to. You don’t have to clear your mind. You just have to stop adding more.
You are allowed to be tired. You are allowed to stop reaching for productivity. You don’t have to earn your rest.
Sometimes, rest arrives quietly, once you stop trying to force it. And sometimes, that’s enough.
