When the world feels heavy, the urge to move faster and think bigger can intensify. This piece offers permission to slow down, attend to the nervous system, and remember that the weight we’re carrying is real—and not meant to be held alone.

If resting makes you anxious and slowing down feels like failure, you’re not alone.

Many of us learned, quietly and early, that our worth was tied to how much we could do. When productivity becomes identity, slowing down can feel unsafe, even when we’re exhausted. This piece explores burnout, “formerly gifted kid” dynamics, and why you are enough without producing.

Despite my frequent criticism of our capitalist society’s relentless pursuit of productivity and success I, too get caught up in the hustle. This has been a challenging year in our practice; one filled with growing pains and a great deal of transition. All of it has left me feeling exhausted and on the verge of burn-out (shout-out to my colleague Anna Kim who has coined the term “crispy” which we use to describe getting dangerously close to burning out)…In this blog, we’ll explore the importance of rest, how it connects to our mental health and well-being, and what we can do about it by drawing on the insights provided by Dr. Dalton-Smith.

Rest and rejuvenation are critical to supporting us as humans. Our society prioritizes doing over being and thus self-care has come to mean engaging in a lot of activity. Read on to learn more about why doing nothing is essential for true self-care.