While everyone keeps moving ...
Notes on rest, consistency, and "making it"
At the beginning of 2023, I joined a yoga studio.
Upon filling out my online profile, I had to select which level best described me: level one (beginner), level two (intermediate), or level three (seasoned practitioner). There were no descriptions for the levels, so I quickly—somewhat confidently, I should add—selected level two. Sure, I was out of practice and had not been exercising with any kind of regularity for several years, but I’d done yoga before! I knew the protocol; I knew the poses. Surely I wouldn’t be considered a beginner.
(Dearest reader, you know where this is going: to say I was immediately humbled would be an understatement. The “beginner” classes left me sore for three days.)
A few months into my membership, I am at my favorite 4:30 class on a Thursday afternoon. Level one, obviously. We flow through a sequence and end at chair pose, which is basically a deep squat with your arms held high in the air. Within seconds my legs are shaking. Just as beads of sweat begin forming at my temples, the instructor speaks.
“When I first started practicing yoga,” she says, “I remember looking at the person in front of the class thinking: when I ‘make it’ as a yogi, THAT is what I am going to look like. A person nailing every pose. An expert. Someone who can do a 75-minute flow perfectly without even breaking a sweat.”
We inhale. Exhale. Forward fold.
“But the further I got into my yoga practice,” she continues, “I realized that ‘making it’ actually looks like taking child’s pose for twenty minutes in the middle of a class.”
My mind flashes back to the only time I have ever done this: my first (and last) hot yoga class. My body couldn’t handle the heat, the humidity, the thickness of the air. No matter the temperature or style or studio, any instructor will typically tell you in the beginning of a yoga class to rest in child’s pose any time you need to. That day in the 101-degree room, I took that invitation seriously for the first time. And even though I know that’s what my body needed, I still felt defeated. Like I had failed in some way.
“Sometimes rest is the right choice,” the instructor says, her eyes scanning the room, “Sometimes, in fact … taking child’s pose is actually the harder choice.”
For a split second, the class melts away. Her words land in my ears with a thud, echoing in my head for the remainder of the night.
Most people would assume completing a difficult yoga sequence is harder than resting in child’s pose. But let me tell you—it’s not easy to lie down on your mat while everyone around you keeps moving.
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I used to resist rest like a baby refusing a spoonful of mashed peas. Ew. No. Hard pass. None for me, thanks. When I think of all the different areas of my heart God has been softening, molding, and rewiring over the past ten years, I can confidently say rest is the chamber that’s seen the most improvement.
I no longer need to be convinced that rest is good, necessary, dare I even say—holy.
Where I once saw rest as a sign of weakness, I now see rest as a sign of strength. Where I once saw rest as a frustrating limitation, I now see rest as a profound gift, a much-needed reminder that I am human: built finite on purpose by a God who designed me to need Him.
I might still be in the beginner level at yoga, but as a writer, a mother, an artist, and the founder of Coffee + Crumbs, I like to think I am on my way to a version of what “making it” can look like — not because anything around here runs flawlessly, but because with every passing year, I am growing more and more comfortable lying down on the mat while everyone around us keeps moving.
Emails pop up regularly in my inbox offering unsolicited marketing advice. These messages come from different people, but Be Consistent! seems to be the golden rule in all of them. Most agencies and experts will tell you that in order to be “successful” online, posting at the same time—every day—is a key ingredient in the secret sauce.
Going dark online? Creating a big hole of nothing in the editorial calendar? Not posting to social media for a whole month? That is a strategy recommended by nobody.
And yet, as we prepare to take our August sabbatical, for the sixth year in a row, that phrase “be consistent” keeps coming to mind. What I want for Coffee + Crumbs—far more than a consistent publishing schedule or social media presence—is for us to be consistent in who we are1, what we do2, and how we rest.
It is an immense privilege to do work we love, and it is also an immense privilege to have an opportunity to miss that work. We are beyond grateful for both.
Thank you, as always, for supporting us in our work, and also in our rest.
We’ll see you in September.3 ❤️
Love,
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And also Whose we are. Psalm 100:3
We bring mothers together through storytelling. In everything we do, we strive to make mothers feel safe, known, encouraged, and loved.
While we’re not putting out a typical bonus podcast episode this month, we did record another C+C Story Slam, which will be released here on Substack mid-August ❤️
 | A guest post by
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What a hard and beautiful truth - it’s harder to rest. Feeling so seen. Celebrating that C+C values rest, too.
"But let me tell you—it’s not easy to lie down on your mat while everyone around you keeps moving." Happy sabbatical, C+C! Celebrating your rest and rest in general. xo