Rest is not a reward

I used to schedule rest like a bonus round. Finish the project, hit the number, get the thing over the line — then I'm allowed to sit down. The finish line kept moving, and so did the sitting down.

What finally shifted it wasn't burnout. Burnout came and went twice and I negotiated with it both times. What shifted it was watching my daughter learn how to be a person by watching me, and realizing I was teaching her that being still has to be earned.

Rest as maintenance instead of reward changed how I plan. Not more discipline — less. Fewer things, spaced further apart, with recovery built into the plan rather than borrowed against it.

It's less impressive. It's also the first year I've felt like myself the whole way through.

Get the next one on Sunday.