Do you ever take a break, only to spend it thinking about everything you should be doing?
Or tell yourself you can rest once you’ve finished just one more thing?
This past week, I finally finished my taxes, a huge project I’d been putting off for months.
For several days, I worked intensely, didn’t get enough sleep, and pushed to meet a deadline. By Thursday evening, it was done. And I was grateful.
Now I could get back to all the things I’d put aside.
Except when Friday came, I was exhausted.
Part of me wanted to want to be productive. I wanted to want to work out, get outside, or make progress on another project.
But I another part of me just wanted to relax.
But that's not ok is it? Shouldn't we be able to push ourselves?
Well perhaps I could have but, I decided to let rest be okay.
I took naps. Watched movies. Had a quiet day.
And in that quiet, I noticed something about the permission I was giving myself:
I’d finished something big. I was completely depleted. So, of course, I could rest.
But what if I hadn’t finished? What if I were simply tired, or wanted some space to enjoy my day?
Would my needs still count?
Yes. And so would yours.
We don’t have to reach our limit before we’re allowed to honor it.
It can be easy to treat rest as something we earn through productivity. Finish the project. Clear the list. Get enough done to feel good about stopping.
But there’s almost always something else to do.
If rest depends on getting everything done, we can keep moving it just out of reach, burn ourselves out, or even make ourselves sick.
And this connects to our self-trust. When we recognize a need and keep telling ourselves, “Later,” We're practicing putting our needs aside.
We are treating ourselves with a lack of care.
When we pause and take that need seriously, We practicing listening to ourselves.
That doesn’t mean every moment of resistance calls for a nap. Sometimes honoring ourselves means taking action even when starting feels uncomfortable.
And sometimes it means listening when our body says, “Not today.”
I’m learning to pause long enough to ask:
What do I need right now, and can I let that matter?
Maybe today that looks like taking a lunch break without working through it. Stopping at the time you planned. Or having a quiet evening while a few things remain unfinished.
You might feel guilty at first. You can acknowledge that feeling and still give yourself care.
This week, what would it look like to give yourself permission to rest before you’re completely exhausted?
Hit reply and tell me. I’d love to hear.
In connection,
Gregg
Permission to be your full self.
A group of harbor seals resting on a beach at a local marine reserve.
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation."
— Audre Lorde