On 'Rest in motion'
A decade old piece that's particularly relevant this time of year
I was recently sent this piece, entitled Rest in motion, and parts of it resonated deeply while others provoked me to think twice. I was surprised by the juxtaposition of these reactions, as my reactions to thought pieces like this tend to be fairly black or white. For my last newsletter of 2025, here’s an annotated summary of ‘Rest in motion.’
The key concept of ‘Rest in motion’ is:
“Many people seem to think the ‘good’ state of being, the ‘ground’ state, is a relaxed state, a state with lots of rest and very little action. Because they think the ground state is the relaxed state, they act like maintaining any other state requires effort, requires suffering.”
“This is a failure mode that I used to fall into pretty regularly. I would model my work as a finite stream of tasks that needed doing [...] with the rest state being the state where all tasks were completed, and so every new task would push me further from that precious rest state and wear me down.”
“[In reality, it] is impossible [to] finish all the work before you. [...] Instead of struggling to reach the end of the stream, simply focus on moving along it.”
I was a little perplexed at this point about what “moving along it” meant—it sounded a bit passive, and that made me nervous. I do agree strongly on the idea that the stream of tasks never ends. This is a particular sentiment that I’ve overwhelmingly felt in the past month, especially with a flurry of (self-imposed) end of year wrap up tasks.
Next, the author discusses how:
“Advertisements and media often push the narrative that the purpose of all our toil is to win a chance at relaxation.”
“I call bullshit. For almost everybody, inaction is boring. That’s why we pick up books, go exploring, and take up hobbies.”
“The actual reward state is not one where you’re lazing around doing nothing. It’s one where you’re keeping busy, where you’re doing things that stimulate you, and where you’re resting only a fraction of the time. The preferred ground state is not one where you have no activity to partake in, it’s one where you’re managing the streams of activity precisely, and moving through them at the right pace: not too fast, but also not too slow.”
“Rest (and personal health, and personal time) are part of the goal [...] Taking care of yourself is very important in order to do all the other things you want to do.”
“Rest isn’t a reward for good behavior! It’s not something you get to do when all the work is finished! That’s finite task thinking. Rather, rest and health are just two of the unending streams that you move through.”
This is where I started to feel a mix of reactions. On the one hand, I am a strong proponent of pacing yourself—of “managing the streams of activity precisely, and moving through them at the right pace: not too fast, but also not too slow.” The callout about rest (along with personal health and time) resonate deeply. The idea of carving out space and time for them, just as you would carve out time for everything else aligns with my personal philosophy.
On the other hand, I have a deep appreciation for doing nothing—inaction is delightful and it brings me so much joy. As I reflected on my moments of inaction, I realized an important nuance in how I define it. To me, inaction isn’t necessarily doing nothing; instead, it’s going into a block of time with the intention of doing nothing. I am open to whatever happens. The freedom and open-endedness is incredibly intoxicating. While it is important to manage your life such that you find the right pace for the different “streams” that exist, it is just as important to leave time for emptiness. The negative space matters incredibly for giving your brain and soul space to thrive.
To close out, the author writes:
“Many people I meet seem to think that they need to take damage whenever they’re working, and then only heal it when they rest. [...] They seem to think they “should” be able to be at home doing nothing, and so when they’re not, they’re taking damage. They think that the ground state is a resting state, a state of inaction, and so whenever they’re acting, this is a deviation from the default, and it requires effort to maintain.”
“The default state, the effortless state, is the one where you’re moving along many streams. It is up to you to make sure that you’re prioritizing the right streams.”
“The ground state, the state to aspire to, the healthy state, the state that occurs naturally when you aren’t forcing yourself to do anything, is the state where you’re getting done what you want done as fast as is sustainable, and no faster.”
It’s not quite written in so many words, but the way I interpret this is that the best state to exist in is one where you:
Prioritize and focus on the “streams” that are rewarding or fulfilling to you in some way, somehow.
Find a way to navigate each stream at the right pace in a way that isn’t disproportionally taxing on you.
With this in mind, I leave you with some food for thought—perhaps you spent the holidays in a state of inaction like me (contented, open-endedly), or perhaps you do feel that you don’t need inaction.
Drop your thoughts in the comments!