you need rest
Hiiii,
Last week I said I need rest.
So this week I’m writing about how to actually do that and why it’s relevant to you at work.
I hope I take my own advice when it comes to rest… Here's to making that a goal in 2026.
But before we get to 2026, I have a few fun things up my sleeve…
☕ Want to catch up on all the SHRM drama and hear what others have to say?? Join me on Friday for a Safe Space hang I’m calling Hot coffee & hotter takes: behind the SHRM drama. This is meant to be an informal discussion around what we’re observing in the market and how to better support each other as a community! Come hang out and meet your newest favorite HR community.
🎧 On the pod this week is the most vulnerable and open conversation I’ve ever had. A love letter to grief and all that it has taught me. My friend George Boone joins me, and we discuss how grief has shaped us personally and professionally, and I straight up sob. So um, yeah. Here’s to another year of baring my soul on this pod in ways some may find cringe, but I find amazingly freeing. And if you are struggling with grief this holiday season, know that you’re never alone.
❤️ Before we begin, I want to acknowledge the ongoing tragedies across the globe, most recently this past week and weekend. Many of us are carrying more than usual, especially during the holiday season. Please take the space you need to care for yourself. In HR, we often support people through real life, not just their work. That can be challenging when real life is overwhelming, but know that your HR community is always there for you.
Now, onto today’s edition - all about rest.
CULTURE
Rest isn’t a reward:Copy anchor linkCopied
Yeah, Yoda me too. And probably you…
It’s an interesting time to talk about rest, because work feels relentless right now:
✅ A brutal market
✅ Limited opportunities
✅ The normalization of a 996 mentality.
Even when people aren’t literally working 9am–9pm, six days a week, the expectation feels like it is there.
Be available. Be responsive. Be seen. Keep up.
Ugh.
There’s also this quiet, underlying fear shaping how people show up. The fear of being invisible, replaceable, or next to go.
So people tend to work harder.
They stay online longer. They say yes when they should say no. Not because they’re overly ambitious (in fact, Gen Z is saying no to management), but because they’re trying to stay employed.
In that kind of environment, rest starts to feel risky.
It’s no longer something you’re encouraged to do, it’s something you have to justify. BOOO.
Something you earn after proving your value. Something you take quietly, with your Slack still open and your inbox half-checked, just in case.
❌ Rest becomes conditional.
❌ Rest becomes something you have to apologize for.
❌ Rest becomes irresponsible.
And when that’s the water some (maybe most of us??) are swimming in.
Warning: That exhaustion becomes baked into how the organization operates and it shows up in how decisions get made, how leaders show up, and how people are expected to perform.
And that exhaustion is avoidable.
We have to stop thinking about rest as a reward but as a necessity.
Rest is a necessity for doing good work and sustaining healthy teams.
So how do we get to that state? Let’s look at the myths around rest, different types of rest and what is required to get rest and see if we can build a restful future in our orgs.
Myths to debunk:Copy anchor linkCopied
Let’s name some of the myths we may have fallen for, even when we know better.
The first is the biggest: rest is a reward.
➡️ Nopppeee. It’s basic maintenance. You don’t “earn” sleep, focus, or emotional capacity. You need them to function.
The next: rest kills momentum.
➡️ What actually kills momentum is exhaustion. Burnout doesn’t arrive dramatically, it erodes consistency, judgment, and patience over time. Almost quietly. And recovering from burnout involves more than just taking some PTO. It can take weeks, months, even years to fully recover from burnout.
Finally: If you slow down, you’ll fall behind.
➡️ In reality, you fall behind faster when you’re depleted, reactive, and operating in survival mode. I call this running on E. I can’t do my best work if I'm running on empty!!
The bottom line: If HR isn’t rested, we can’t do our best work and we definitely can’t help others do theirs.
And the next time your CEO or any leader makes a comment about not needing rest just whip out these myths and school them.
Now that I’ve debunked some common myths, let’s look at different types of rest.
Because yes… there is more than 1 type of rest.
Different types of rest:Copy anchor linkCopied
Hear me out, most people don’t actually need more time off… What they actually need is different kinds of rest.
Ex: Ever come back from PTO and feel just as tired?? Maybe you didn’t get the RIGHT type of rest your body needed.
Think about these types of rest the next time you’re feeling exhausted:
🧠 Cognitive rest: Relief from constant decisions, messages, meetings, and context switching. Actual mental quiet. This is the rest I deeply desire.
❤️ Emotional rest: Not having to perform. Not carrying everyone else’s stress. Not being “on” all the time. HR does so much unseen emotional labor that this type of rest might be the most important for us…
🎨 Creative rest: Space to think without producing. Curiosity without a deadline. Play without pressure. As a deeply creative person this is one of my favorite types of rest! To play without feeling the pressure of a deliverable or deadline is sooo dreamy.
💪 Physical rest: Sleep. Stillness. Movement that isn’t about optimization. Letting your body recover instead of powering through. I call these my couch days. I just need a couch, blanket, bathrobe and I'm good to go.
Sometimes exhaustion isn’t a signal that you need more time off, it’s a signal that your days are draining you faster than weekends can repair.
Think about rest as something you practice daily AND something you protect in bigger chunks.
Two tips I have to help:
1) Create space during the workweek: block thinking time, limit context switching, and end work when you say you will. Those back to back meetings are draining you, I promise. You will do better work if you can incorporate mini microbreaks. Even scheduling meetings for 25 mins rather than 30 can make a difference!
2) Honor time away as real rest: step fully out so your nervous system can actually reset. Make an out of office plan, delegate the tasks, get coverage in place and then GTFO. You deserve it.
Now, nothing I say matters if you can’t actually get rest.
So here are some requirements to be aware of to be able to actually act on this.
Requirements needed to get rest:Copy anchor linkCopied
Getting rest doesn’t fail because people lack discipline, it usually fails because systems don’t support it.
Most systems aren’t designed to protect your rest… they’re designed to maximize output, even when it comes at the expense of recovery.
So, here are some requirements to get REAL rest and build a better system for your employees, managers, and leaders.
Real rest requires:
➡️ Boundaries: clear stops, not just starts. I wrote about boundaries last week to help you set better ones in 2026 and help your employees do that as well!
➡️ Clarity: what actually matters vs. what’s just signal. When everything is urgent, nothing is rest-protective. Clarity actually reduces the mental load that keeps people “on” long after the workday ends. Rest starts when people know what truly matters and what can wait!! Everything cannot be a priority 1. Teach your team and those around you how to prioritize correctly so they can step away and rest.
➡️ Permission: modeled, not just written in a policy. If your leaders are always on and overworking what do you think your employees are gonna do? They’re going to model that behavior. Rest only becomes safe when it’s visibly practiced by those at the top.
➡️ Slack at work: Things shouldn’t always be go, go, go at work. White space allows for recovery, not just output. Down time isn’t inefficiency, it’s how recovery actually happens. Without room to pause, reflect, or breathe, work becomes a constant sprint with no reset. Teams need space, not just more output or chasing deadlines to no end.
Don’t forget: If everything is urgent, nothing can rest.
📣 And if leaders don’t protect this, no amount of self-care will fix it.
What’s next:Copy anchor linkCopied
My annual gift giving guide comes out next week!
Every year I write about the gifts your HR team actually wants and I think this year’s might be the best…
I guess you’ll have to see on Monday!
Until then, catch you Wednesday & Friday with some more treats.
(HUMAN) RESOURCES
- Netflix & American malls, yuppp you read that right
- Instacart’s AI pricing
- Tragedies at Brown, Bondi Beach, in LA
- CultureCon is hosting the hybrid-orientation masterclass your execs can’t ignore*
*This one is brought to you by one of my amazing brand partners
WORK-LIFE BALANCE
- 📚 What I’m reading: Bold Moves by Emma Barry. I don’t tend to like second chance romances as a trope but I looked past that because I love chess. That’s all I’m going to say!!
- 📺 What I’m watching: Heated Rivalry. This show took the internet by storm so I obvi had to watch!! Enemies to lovers for two hockey rivals. Anyways, it just got renewed for S2 so that's exciting!
- 📖 What I’m looking for: holiday book recs!! I love a holiday rom com and i’m looking for your suggestions!! PLEASE SHARE and spread the holiday cheer.
SONG OF THE WEEK
🎧 My Only Wish This Year, Britney SpearsCopy anchor linkCopied
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Easily one of my favorite holiday songs!!!
This was peak 2000s and Britney. Gahhh I miss those days.
I hope you enjoyed this, please let me know what you think and what other topics you'd love for me to cover. I'm allll ears.
Reminder: Take care of yourself and know that I support you.
