As we slide into spring and the last stretch of the year, I am hearing the same refrain everywhere: the tank feels empty, the calendar feels relentless, and our attention is being sliced into tiny pieces. This is exactly why we are focusing on rest and overcoming stress now. Rest is not a reward for when life calms down. It is what allows life to feel livable again. When we are over-functioning, we spend our days firefighting and our nights bracing for the next blaze, which quietly trains the body to live in survival mode. If that resonates, start with last week’s piece on The Cost of Over-functioning to see where your energy is leaking and how to right-size your effort without losing excellence, then come back to this week’s exploration of replenishing rest as a practice of faith and surrender that actually fills you up. Let this be the moment you choose to restore your rhythm so you can meet the rest of the year with steadier focus, kinder boundaries, and more of your real self.
The quiet beliefs that keep us restless
Underneath the calendar and the to‑do list sit old ideas about worth and safety.
About rest. Many of us learned that rest must be earned. That stopping is “wasting time.” That slowing down means falling behind.
About control. If I loosen my grip, things will fall apart. If I am not vigilant, I will be blindsided.
About faith. Good things arrive only through effort. My will is safer than life.
About surrender. Surrender means losing. If I soften, someone will take advantage.
These are not bad people beliefs. They are survival beliefs. They helped once. They also wire the body to treat rest like a threat. You lie down, but the jaw is tight. You try to breathe, but the mind keeps scrolling. That kind of “rest” cannot restore you.
The permission to close your eyes
Try this in the middle of your day. Put a hand on your heart and another on your belly. Close your eyes for sixty seconds. Notice what rises. Calm is lovely. Unease is information. It tells you about the bargain you made with vigilance. When permission is genuine, the body softens. Breath returns. Focus widens. You are still responsible. You are simply no longer on high alert.
“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” — Anne Lamott
Two very different kinds of rest
Shutting down to survive. Collapse, numb, escape. It gets you through the night but leaves you emptier in the morning. It feeds the story of not enough. Not enough time. Not enough help. Not enough you.
Filling up to live well. Nourish, connect, attune. It restores your capacity and returns you to meaning. Effort becomes devotion instead of penance. You feel more yourself, not less.
Rest that fills you up is not passive. It is an active practice of receiving. It asks you to trust that the world can turn for a while without your constant holding.
Whole‑human rest
Rest has a shape in every part of you.
Mind. White space to think slowly. One thought at a time. A pause long enough to hear a wiser idea.
Body. Sleep that completes cycles. Movement that soothes rather than punishes. A warm bath. Sunlight on skin.
Heart. Kindness toward your limits. Clean repair after a rupture. Gratitude that expands your capacity.
Soul. Silence. Awe. Prayer. A remembering that you are more than your output.
Rest is also communal and creative. It lives in laughter with friends. Food made slowly. Music that vibrates your ribs. A page of poetry. A sketch that no one needs to see. This is not indulgence. This is maintenance for your humanity.
Control, faith, surrender
Control is useful when it builds containers. It harms when it strangles life. Use it to protect deep work and real recovery. Let faith be the trust that if you keep one promise to yourself today, life will meet you. Let surrender be cooperation with what wants to unfold. You learn all three through rest. Close the laptop. Take the slow walk. Lie down for ten minutes. Notice how the sky does not fall. Notice how energy returns when you stop leaking it.
“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” — Lao Tzu
A menu of replenishing rest
True rest tends to do three things. It feeds you. It helps you express what you value. It brings you back to aliveness.
Physical. Sleep, stretching, massage, naps, baths.
Mental. Single tasking, daydreaming, no‑input time, staring out the window.
Emotional. Safe crying, being held, uncensored journaling, therapy, prayer.
Sensory. Quiet rooms, dim lights, nature, less screen light.
Creative. Doodling, humming, reading a page of poetry, making something small.
Social. Time with people who regulate your nervous system. Permission to decline.
Spiritual. Silence, contemplation, ritual, gratitude, service that nourishes.
When “rest” aggravates existing feelings of not‑enoughness
If rest is only collapse, you wake as tired as before. The brain scans for danger. The inner critic gets louder. Productivity turns into penance. Connection feels like work. The lens you look through gets jaded. Replenishing rest interrupts that cycle. It says I am already enough to pause. I am already worthy of care. From sufficiency, work becomes generous again.
Practices for a life lived well
The Sabbath hour. One protected hour each week with no chores and no screens. Do what truly nourishes you.
White space before results. Book two thirty‑minute buffers. Use them to breathe, walk or stare. Keep them white.
Permission slips. Write three. I have permission to rest before I am empty. I have permission to be imperfect. I have permission to enjoy my life now.
Shutdown ritual. Ten minutes to park open loops and close the day. Whisper, work is done for today.
Receiving reps. Ask for help twice this week. Let it land. Say thank you and stop talking.
7 Small Shifts for Big Magic
- Name one subterranean belief about rest. Write a kinder sentence next to it.
- Replace collapse with a fifteen‑minute replenishment break. Sunlight. Stretch. Stillness.
- Practice the breath. Inhale four. Exhale six. Three rounds before every decision.
- Create a device sundown. One hour before sleep your phone rests too.
- Keep one creative practice for ten minutes a day. Doodle, hum, or write a stanza.
- Schedule recovery like meetings. Two thirty‑minute blocks this week. Non negotiable.
- Choose a friend who regulates you. Share tea or a slow walk. Let community hold you.
Quotes to carry with you
- “It takes courage to say yes to rest and play in a culture where exhaustion is a status symbol.” — Brené Brown
- “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” — Anne Lamott
- “Caring for myself is not self‑indulgence, it is self‑preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” — Audre Lorde
- “Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” — Lao Tzu
- “Rest is resistance.” — Tricia Hersey
- “There is a voice that does not use words. Listen.” — Rumi
- “The time to relax is when you do not have time for it.” — Sydney J. Harris
- “Rest and be thankful.” — William Wordsworth
Book list
Rest Is Resistance by Tricia Hersey.
Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less by Alex Soojung Kim Pang.
Sacred Rest by Saundra Dalton Smith.
Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker.
Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman.
Reflection prompts
- What feeling rises when I close my eyes for one minute in daylight. What belief sits beneath it.
- Where is my rest actually avoidance. What would replenishing rest look like instead.
- If I trusted life a little more this week, what would I release from my grip.
You are made for more. You are also made for good, revitalising, replenishing rest. Choose rest that fills you up. Let control soften into trust. Let surrender become an adventure. When you rest like this you do not step out of your life. You step more deeply into it.
Power Pause Invitation
Sixty minutes. One gentle reset to catch your breath and recover your groove. This complimentary session gives you space to land, name what is weighing on you, and leave with one clear next step.
What we will do
- A simple nervous system reset
- A quick energy audit to find the leaks
- A boundary tune up you can keep
- One small rhythm to restore focus this week
Who it is for High capacity humans who feel stretched thin and want a kinder, wiser pace.
How to claim Book your complimentary Power Pause here:
Prefer a personal touch. Reply with “PAUSE” and we will find you a slot.