A poem by Hafiz, a 14th century Persian poet:
I sometimes forget
that I was created for Joy.
My mind is too busy.
My Heart is too heavy
for me to remember
that I have been
called to dance
the Sacred dance of life [1].
I grew up believing that I would flourish as I got older. My teachers encouraged me to develop my skills, my parents helped form my confidence, and I just knew that I would thrive as my understanding of the world widened. Is that not what it meant to be an adult? However, life became far more complex and far more complicated than my small hands could hold. My eyes were opened to a world of pain, grief, injustice, and weariness, draining my childhood curiosity. Somehow, work was stripped of creativity and redefined as duty with pressuring expectations. I craved a feeling of purpose in my work that wasn’t determined by grades and outside satisfaction.
“Dare to grow,” they said.
“Give me the time to grow,” I responded.
“Work hard, play hard,” they said.
“Where is the time for rest?” I responded.
It often feels as though rest is simply not an option in the midst of prevailing expectations. The phrase “work-life balance” seems to incite bitter laughter or a dejected sigh—an acknowledgement of its seeming impossibility in a world where work is seldom meaningful and weariness is the norm. We shrug off the idea of “work-life balance” and find ourselves toiling aimlessly and numbing our brains in the name of work and rest. Ask yourself: When was the last time you had the space and time to feel passionate about something?
Many college students feel that their attention is torn between classes, friendships, world news, and much more. We are fatigued from the hundreds of things that are vying for our attention. Don Grant, head of APA’s Division of Society for Media Psychology and Technology diagnoses this as “media saturation overload”[2]. We are exhausted from information overload and yet, in this cultural moment, media is unavoidable and rest is equated to mindless scrolling. In an astounding way, we are training our brains against proper learning. This is no way to “live.” We must reconsider the purpose of work, so that we can move beyond the monotony of mind-numbing exercises to a state where we reflect on our work, our relationship to it, and how we can reclaim its splendors.
It is easy for us to balk at such a consideration, especially when our current work drains our mental capacities and we feel our work serves no greater purpose. In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, he created a controlled dystopian society where people are born into castes, given meaningless work, and rely on a drug— Soma —to find happiness [3]. While the protagonist, Bernard Marx, knows no other life, he later travels beyond his homeland to the so-called “Savage World.” Here, people engage in deep conversations, experience love and aging, and embrace religion—everything that Bernard’s dystopian world supposedly protects him from. Bernard’s visit is transformative, completely altering his understanding of what life can truly offer, as he experiences the depth of both pain and joy. As Huxley’s dystopia demonstrates, joy is not found by avoiding what we fear, like age, deep questions, and suffering.
In the face of tragedy and extreme political polarization, it feels far easier to power through our work by relying on the dopamine hit of scrolling rather than processing the big questions of life. Understandably, we have limited capacities to deeply engage with the world throughout our days, but a life of full avoidance is unrealistic and dangerous. Our modern world, though more advanced in many ways, offers us a form of societal Soma, where distractions and superficial satisfactions keep us from confronting deeper questions about the meaning of life.
The Struggle to Determine Importance
In our “Brave New World,” our work often feels meaningless and we struggle to have energy or time to reflect on our lives. Now more than ever, human beings are struggling to attend to such considerations. Bombarded with notifications, news, and technology built to distract us, our focus is now commodified in this “attention economy.” We are expected to be “on” at all times— no wonder we finish the day so weary. As Johann Hari highlights in his book Stolen Focus, our modern culture is designed to distract us at every turn, making it difficult for us to concentrate on what truly matters. He writes, “The truth is that you are living in a system that is pouring acid on your attention every day” [4]. This, Hari argues, contributes to our fatigue and inability to focus on meaningful tasks.
The modern world does not suffer from having enough to focus on; rather, the modern world struggles to focus on what is truly important and worth its time. Author Cal Newport determines, “Who you are, what you think, feel, and do, what you love—is the sum of what you focus on” [5]. We are aware that our focus shapes who we are and yet we are stuck in a state of paralysis. Everything that grabs our attention begs some sort of response, and yet we cannot seem to determine what is worth responding to, leaving us hopeless about our ability to impact the world.
“Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.”
— Mary Oliver [6]
Hope-Infused Work
We are creatures of expectation, and all of our work is done in the hope that something will come of what we do. We beg that our four years spent at college obtaining a degree will be worth something. And yet, it’s often difficult to gauge what qualifies work as being worth doing.
Hope is not a vague feeling; it is a driving force that shapes the significance we find in our work. By viewing our labor through the lens of hope, we can transform mundane tasks into purposeful endeavors. A Forbes article on “purpose and work” rightly determined that purpose is increasingly a business imperative [7]. Companies that engage employees with a sense of purpose and a hopeful vision for change and results see greater flourishing. Whether it is human flourishing, leaving a legacy, pleasing loved ones, pleasing oneself, or often, money, we work in hopes that our efforts ultimately have a purpose.
Hope charges humanity. Hope empowers curiosity, creativity, and resilience. Hope infuses us with a sense of purpose because as we identify what is important, we can accurately find hope in what we can do. Although hope infuses our work with purpose, it also takes an incredible amount of energy. To hope is to risk disappointment, to place emotional weight on something at the risk of gaining an emotional burden. We live in a culture where doubt is considered a virtue and constantly questioning one’s beliefs is seen as a sign of intellectual humility. While open-mindedness is incredibly important to fostering a life of curiosity, part of learning is continuing to gain confidence in what one knows. Seeking a foundation to empower one’s hope is a necessary part of the human experience. However, as Hari states, “We live in a gap between what we know we should do and what we feel we can do” [8]. We know that we must focus on our tasks ahead of us, but we long for the space and time to slow down and reflect.
Created For Rest
One of the most mysterious yet wonderful aspects of being a human is our need for rest. From rest, humans learn, think critically, and enjoy community with others. As reported by the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, sleep is vital to learning, mood, and physical health while sleep deprivation is linked to major disasters as well as a range of health disorders [9]. Sleep is critical, and humans were made to rest.
Many cultures and traditions have acknowledged this need for rest. Practiced in parts of Spain, “siestas” are short naps after lunch that rejuvenate workers and provide mental clarity. Other cultures incorporate rest into the routine of the week. Many Christians and Jews practice the Sabbath, or Shabbat, a period of 24 hours dedicated to rest and reflection. In both religious practices, it is a day to celebrate the created world and enjoy rest as God rested when he made creation [10]. It is a day to contemplate and enjoy the work from the week, replenishing to then start the week again.
I personally practice the Sabbath by refraining from work on Sunday. I do not always keep it perfectly, nor is the practice of Sabbath about keeping it perfectly, but in doing so I remind myself that my value does not lie in my perceived academic productivity. It is not a day of painfully and anxiously resisting work out of fear of punishment, but a time to rest and rejuvenate. Practicing the Sabbath grants me a sweet sense of peace in surrendering my work to God, and I look forward to Sundays, where I can breathe, slow down, engage with other other types of work. Because a rhythm of rest is in my routine, I do not have to fear that I will not have time for rest. English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge identified the refreshment from the Sabbath, stating, “I feel as if God had, by giving the Sabbath, given fifty-two springs in each year.” My practice of the Sabbath is a way for me to enjoy the gift of rest that I have been given and is a reminder that God gives good gifts.
Amazingly, it is on Sabbath days that my hunger for creativity is satisfied. I am able to pause my academic brain and indulge in the peaceful act of painting or sketching. It is on Sundays that I can truly be fully present in conversations with others, with no rush to get anymore and with no frustration that my time could’ve been used in any other way. The rhythm of the Sabbath helps me realize that rest is not just sleep or the mere absence of work, but the filling of time with many joys of life, resting in the hope of having a God-given identity. From this routine of rejuvenation, I am able to enter into my academics with a schema of work that is wider than my academics and express greater creativity in my work because my body has rested. Ultimately, from my Sabbath practice, I understand God’s intention that we can live “life and life to the full” [11]. I am able to model the ultimate restoration of creation. In the last words of the Bible, God promises “Behold, I am making all things new” [12]. The Christian rests in the hope that restoration will occur and they will experience ultimate rest.
…rest is not just sleep or the mere absence of work, but the filling of time with many joys of life, resting in the hope of having a God-given identity.
Still, it is not always as easy and romanticized as it sounds. We live in a world that promotes stress as a product of working hard. Sleep deprivation is laughed off and pinned as a badge of honor. However, the state of the world around us does not change the fact that rest is not merely the absence of work; it is the active pursuit of rejuvenation for the mind, body, and soul. Just as sleep restores physical health, rest replenishes our mental and emotional reserves, allowing us to return to our work with renewed energy and hope as we ask big questions about our purpose. In the midst of a world that is full of mindless, energy draining activities marketed as rest, true rest must be actively created and sought.
Resting in Trust
As we go about our days, which are often filled with moments that are not conducive to rest, is trust not the greatest form of rest? It is the foundation of true rest. When we trust that we are part of something larger, we can release the grip of anxiety and guilt that often accompanies rest. This trust allows us to rest fully, knowing that our worth is not contingent on how much we do.
True rest occurs when one knows, without a doubt, that they are safe, which takes an immense amount of trust. The Bible speaks into this rest, ultimately calling Christians to have “childlike faith” [13]. A child accepts a gift with excitement and hope. A child plays without stress. A child ultimately rests in trust. Trust in a higher purpose is crucial to finding rest. When we trust that there is space for us to rest, we can release the pressure of determining worth through productivity. This trust enables the Sabbath to become a source of renewal rather than an anxiety-filled ritual.
True rest occurs when one knows, without a doubt, that they are safe…
We are no strangers to the pursuit of rest. Ultimately, by centering our routines around proper rest, we can find more accurate focus on what is important and reclaim what it means to live fully: engaging in our work with purpose, restoring our energies with trust, and returning to the dance of life with joy. We can think critically, engage in thoughtful conversation, and ultimately release our worth in work by pausing and seeking the source of true rest. In a world that constantly demands more from us, reclaiming true rest is a powerful act of rebellion.
“Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless, until it rests in Thee.”
— African Bishop Augustine of Hippo
By Eowyn Oh, Editor-in-Chief
Eowyn Oh is a junior from Broomall, Pennsylvania. She is studying Secondary Education and English and can often be found sitting outside enjoying the weather. She enjoys writing academic pieces about the field of education and the role of teaching.
References
- Hafiz, “The Sacred Dance of Life”
- Huff, Charlotte. “Media Overload Is Hurting Our Mental Health. Here Are Ways to Manage Headline Stress.” Monitor on psychology. Accessed March 25, 2025. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2022/11/strain-media-overload.
- Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York, NY: Spark Publishing, 2014.
- Hari, Johann. Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2023.
- Newport, Cal, Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World. Grand Central Publishing, 2016.
- Oliver, Mary. “Sometimes” in Devotions. New York, NY: Penguin Press, 2017, 105.
- Todd-Ryan, Samantha. “The ‘why’ behind Our Work: What Is ‘Purpose,’ and Do We Need It?” Forbes, October 12, 2022. https://www.forbes.com/sites/samanthatodd/2019/07/29/the-why-behind-our-work-what-is-purpose-and-do-we-need-it/.
- Hari, Johann. Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2023.
- Worley, Susan L. “The Extraordinary Importance of Sleep: The Detrimental Effects of Inadequate Sleep on Health and Public Safety Drive an Explosion of Sleep Research.” P & T : a peer-reviewed journal for formulary management, December 2018. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6281147/.
- Genesis 3, ESV
- John 10:10, ESV
- Revelation 21:5, ESV
- Matthew 18:3, ESV