You Deserve to Rest
A Guide to Resting and Relaxing This Holiday Season
The holiday season is upon us, and with it comes the grind of balancing end of year work, 2026 planning, increased social commitments, and a never ending list of to-dos. Taking a breath and resting this time of year, when all of nature is doing so, seems to be impossible, but it’s critical that you make an attempt.
I am someone who has often struggled to rest — I have a very active brain that’s difficult to shutdown. However, after surviving several bouts of burnout throughout the years, I’ve learned how important it is to take a breather. Rest is just as important as work, and both qualify as being productive. As the saying goes, you can’t pour from an empty cup, and rest is a way to refill said container. It’s easy to read this and conflate rest with sleep, but rest is actually any period of relaxation that reduces stress and calms the body. I think we can all use an extra dosage of stress reduction and calm after what 2025 has put us through, but getting to that state can be difficult.
As simple as it seems to allow yourself to do the minimum and recharge, I have often run into barriers when attempting to do so. The first of which is believing that I deserve to rest. In American culture, there is this myth of needing to earn downtime. Only when we’ve exhausted ourselves are we told we deserve time off or self-care, but rest is supposed to be a part of everyday life. Regardless of how productive you’ve been, you deserve to take a break when you feel like it. If my unemployed cat can curl up for a nap mid-afternoon, without a care in the world, then you, a hardworking person who’s surviving at a chaotic time, can binge watch Netflix for a weekend without a guilt trip.
Another barrier to rest is carving out the time to do so, but that’s the beauty of the holidays. Many of us will be taking a break from work in the coming weeks, and it’s important that you reserve some of that time for you. Below, you will find my Rest Toolkit to help you along your journey of rest and relaxation. Enjoy!
The If I’m Being Honest Rest Toolkit
Get Active
Resting doesn’t always have to look like sitting on the couch and binge watching TV. If you have the physical energy, consider taking a walk, doing a workout you enjoy, or going for a hike or a bike ride. Being active is the best way to get out of your head and back into your body, and it’s an essential part of my restorative routine.
Curate Your Consumption
It really is your damn phone. Social media can be fun and entertaining, but is also a bottomless pit of bad news and anxiety inducing content. When you’re focusing on rest, stay off of social media and instead consume long form content that you curate. In lieu of being overstimulated or triggered by whatever pops up on your fyp, you can decide what vibe / mood you want to set with what you consume. Binging a season of a good TV show or having a movie marathon are both ways to curate your media consumption when you’re in full-on couch potato mode.
Book a Treatment
Booking a service like acupuncture, a massage, or a mani/pedi, are all ways to pamper yourself and allow someone to take care of you for once. If you’re in NYC and looking for a good acupuncture spot, I highly recommend wthn. Booking a treatment during the holiday season is a nice way to rejuvenate after the insanity of shopping, hosting, traveling, or cooking. I suggest getting a treatment scheduled now, to ensure that some you time will be squeezed in before you have to get back to work.
Take a Bath
Taking a bath is my go-to, free way to relax on the weekends. I love to set a relaxing bath-time mood with candles, a chill playlist, and some epsom salt. Every time I take one of these baths, I walk away feeling like a new woman.
Re-Engage With Your Hobbies
When you reach the point of feeling bored during PTO, opt for engaging with a hobby instead of working or doomscrolling. Pick up that unfinished crochet project, start a puzzle, read a good book, or take a ceramics class. Using your energy towards a hobby is incredibly relaxing and restorative.
Housekeeping
Speaking of rest, I will be taking next week off from IBH to enjoy the Christmas holiday. I will see you all on December 31st for my annual birthday newsletter; happy holidays and talk soon.
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