*This is a letter to those who strive to be the best. Those who are allergic to complacency. Those who want more than the average.*

My fellow competitors,

We are Eagerly Striving for Triumph. (E)agerly (S)triving for (T)riumph.

As a millennial living in the digital age of abbreviations, I will allow the acronym “EST” to denote those four words:

E- Eagerly
S- Striving for
T- Triumph

EST defines who we are as people. We are all and always Eagerly Striving for Triumph. EST is found in all that we do, and it is found in all that is set in our gaze.

We want to be the smartEST, the strongEST, the fastEST, the worthiEST. We want to be the bEST.

However, there is one word that ends in EST that ultimately ends our EST. When abused, this word ends our eager strive for triumph.

This word is rEST.

Rest is what we need to repair. According to the national sleep foundation, “Teens need at least 8 hours—and on average 9¼ hours—a night of uninterrupted sleep to leave their bodies and minds rejuvenated for the next day. If sleep is cut short, the body doesn’t have time to complete all of the phases needed for muscle repair, memory consolidation, and release of hormones regulating growth and appetite. “ Without rest, our bodies cannot function. However, eight hours is about the average amount of needed sleep, but as competitors, we want MORE than the average.

I complete my history homework, yet my chemistry is left undone. I intend to finish it, yet my mind convinces me that I need rest. My “rest” turns into a snack break. Then, it becomes a Netflix marathon, and before I know it, six hours has passed. Have I completed my chemistry homework? I haven’t even begun.

I say it’s time for me to run. I need to begin conditioning my body for the track season. I lace up my running shoes, and my finger approaches the start button on my timer. However, the voice inside my head tells me, “I need to rest.” I listen. I obey. I kick off my sneakers, and I end the timer before I can even hit start. My “rest” turns into endless Youtube videos that put me to sleep until the next day.

I awake. It’s a Sunday morning at 6AM. I say it’s time to write. It’s time to practice my music. It’s time to reply to business e-mails. It’s time to read that Shakespeare book I’ve been holding off on reading. It’s time.

I look at my clock as it strikes 6:02. I know there’s so much I can do to improve who I am as a person, yet once again, that ever so convincing voice in my head tells me, “Calista babe, you need rest. Get some rest.” Without hesitation, I listen. I allow my head to hit my pillow, and I fall back asleep.

When I awake again, it is 11AM, yet when I awake, for the rest of the day, I am still at “rest”. Not a book read, not a paper written, not a chord strummed, not an e-mail sent. Don’t be so hard on yourself. After all, we need rest.

It’s a lethal, never ending battle of whether we should grind or allow our bodies to rest. However, the most dangerous part of all is when the battle is over. Our will powers are allied with our work ethics, and when that team of two raises its white flag of surrender, that voice inside my head smirks in satisfaction. Still grinning about our will powers’ and work ethics’ defeat, it whispers to the losing team, “Now, it’s time for you all to take a rest. Go on, and rest.”

You see, us competitors are over achievers who want the best and want to be the best. However, how can we be better than the rEST when our spirit is being swallowed whole and drowned by rest?

The answer for all of us is to remember this: Rest=sleep, and we need at least eight hours of it. Therefore, the other sixteen hours of the day is what makes us who we are. Are we going to let rest take control of those sixteen hours, or are we going to be better than the rest?

Eagerly Striving for Triumph,
Calista

P.S. Newton's First Law of Motion states that every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it. In other words, an object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. That force is rest, and an object at rest stays at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. This outside force is EST: an (E)ager (S)trive for (T)riumph