Jacqueline
May 13, 2025
Especially as creatives, slowing down and relaxing is the whole reason.
Well, not the whole reason, but it is a part of life, too.
The years I spend working for others, not once did I slow down to be present. Every moment felt like I was in a war zone needing to survive the day.
However, being “productive” all the goddamn time is slowly killing you – and it will catch up to you.
After you’re done reading this article, I want you to sit down and write as much as you can to get it out of you.
1. Why Does Doing Nothing Make You Feel Like a Failure
Why do you feel guilty? What’s on your mind when you sit there and relax? You work hard to make someone else’s life easier by working for someone else, what is stopping you from allowing you to have an easy and relaxed life? (apart from bills and finances, this is more tailored to not being able to sit still when you can).
2. The Productivity Trap
I want you to remember this: your hustle mindset is not just coming from you, it’s from hustle culture and toxic self-help advice. I’ve heard it time and time again, “I’ll work hard today so I can rest later.” As someone who’s had this mindset in her early twenties, yeah, no! That’s not going to happen. The world will throw something else in your direction, a car accident, taxes, life! Whatever it is, the system will trap you into making you feel that you always need to stay productive.
3. Rest Does Not Equal to Laziness
This is where I try to deconstruct the idea that resting means being lazy. Whether you choose to listen to this advice or not, it’s completely up to you. But I regret not taking the time to stay home and watch movies when I had the chance. Resting is an essential part of the human body. It’s necessary for creativity, your mental health, and emotional regulation. Remember that you are human first, not a productivity machine.
4. The Constant Cost of Output
Burnout is ugly. I hate burnouts. I’ll say it again with a little more passion: I HATE BURNOUTS. It lasts a very long time and it feels like you’ll never feel you again. You know you will, but now rest becomes an obligation, not a choice.
5. Redefining Value
Let me ask you this: who’s still around when you’re not performing? Productivity does not, and should not, define your identity, your purpose, and especially your self-worth. I learned a new concept called “existence-based worth.” Based on the name, it’s exactly what it means. Your worth isn’t tied to anything besides the very fact that you exist, and this is all you need. You deserve care, respect, and rest without having to earn it.
6. Start Normalizing This
Take naps when you feel you need them. If you’re like me, I avoid naps because they end up turning into 2-hour sleep sessions. I’ll admit, I know those aren’t naps, naps are meant to be around 30-minutes or so. They make you feel good when done right. Either way, take that 2-hour nap. Try to watch TV without multitasking or feeling guilty. Rest with no intention whatsoever. Don’t worry about how you’ll feel after (so you can go back to being productive). Just lie there. Have the TV playing in the background and just be.
7. Time to Shift
Lastly, as a collective, it’s important that we create action by implementing what we believe into our own lives, but it’s also important to stop glorifying our hustle mindset and start honoring what our human bodies are telling us to do. Become unapologetic for resting, and remind others that as humans, resting is part of the life experience.
Now that that’s out of the way, I want to add that this is tailored to those of us who want to work hard all the time; specifically, for those who feel that they need to be performing all the time so that we feel important or an essential part of society.
I’m not telling you to stop, but I am reminding you that it’s okay to rest without feeling guilty.
Don’t repeat my mistakes, remember that that job will replace in you in a heartbeat, it’s okay to ask for help, and you aren’t the only one feeling this way.
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