Resting Without Guilt in a Culture That Worships the Hustle - Newsletter #37

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A couple of weeks ago, I sat down to take care of some “quick” admin work and somehow found myself, an hour later, in a guilt spiral for not having posted on LinkedIn that day. As if I’d let the algorithm, and the universe down.

In my planner, I had written: “REST DAY.” And still, there I was, trying to sneak productivity into the edges of my own boundary.

Sound familiar?

We live in a world that doesn’t just glorify being busy, it treats it as a badge of honor. We’re taught that to be valuable, we need to constantly be doing. Publicly. Loudly. All the time. Even our rest comes with pressure to perform. A perfectly curated self-care moment. A nap tracked by an app. A mindfulness practice with a leaderboard.

But I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, and here’s something I’ve come to believe: Rest isn’t something you earn. It’s something you deserve. Always.

For many of us, especially those who lead with heart, who care deeply, who create and build and carry others, the idea of slowing down can feel wrong. Or indulgent. Or risky.

But here’s the truth: the pause isn’t the opposite of progress. It’s part of it.

Rest is where clarity begins. It’s where our nervous system catches up. It’s where the quiet ideas begin to surface. It’s where we remember that we are more than what we produce.

Let’s be real. There’s been a lot going on.

Whether or not you’ve been directly impacted by job changes, layoffs, or shifts in the industry, many of us are carrying a collective heaviness right now. And if you’ve felt tired not just physically, but soul-deep tired. You are not imagining it.

You don’t need to justify that fatigue. You don’t need to explain why you need rest. You just need to honor it.

You are allowed to take care of yourself without turning it into a productivity hack. You can rest without having to make it a story.

I’ve been trying to practice this myself. I’m not perfect at it. But here’s what I’m learning to do:

• Schedule blank space on my calendar and treat it as sacred
• Silence the apps and alerts that whisper "do more"
• Speak my rest out loud so I don’t dismiss it in my own mind
• Let myself do absolutely nothing and not apologize for it

Toni Morrison once said,

“You are not the work you do; you are the person you are.”

That line gets me every time.

You are not your inbox. You are not your to-do list. You are not your job title or your latest project.

You are a person. You get to be human. And humans need rest.

So if no one’s told you this today: You can pause. You can breathe. You can stop. Not because you earned it. Not because everything is done. But because you exist.

The world will still be there tomorrow. But maybe you’ll meet it with a little more steadiness, a little more clarity, and a little more of yourself.

Big love and a deep breath.

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