On rest, and why it isn't a reward

Many of the people I work with are extraordinarily capable. They are the ones others rely on. And somewhere along the way, they learned that rest is something you earn after everything else is done.

The trouble is, everything else is never done. So rest keeps getting pushed to a someday that doesn't arrive, and the body keeps a running tab of every skipped exhale.

What if rest weren't a reward for productivity, but a basic condition of being well? Not the collapse at the end of an exhausting week, but small, deliberate moments of letting your nervous system know it's safe to stand down.

You are allowed to rest before you've earned it. In fact, that might be the whole point.