Reclaim Your Right to Rest
Do you really rest? Not just sleep, but true, replenishing rest — the kind that nourishes your soul, calms your mind, and allows you to feel whole.
Rest is much more than simply catching up on sleep. It includes time spent in creative pursuits, moments of quiet reflection, meditative stillness, social connection, and any activity that restores rather than depletes. Yet, for many of us — particularly women — rest has become something to feel guilty about rather than something to cherish.
The Gender Rest Gap
If you’ve ever sat in a group of women, you’ve likely heard variations of the same conversation: “I almost didn’t come today. I feel like I should be doing something more productive.” The rest gap is real. Women contribute immense amounts to workplaces, families, social and cultural structures, yet taking time for ourselves is often met with guilt or even shame.
Studies confirm what many of us instinctively know, that women get significantly less rest than men. The unpaid labour of household management, emotional caregiving, and the expectation to always be available leaves little room for rest that is seen as ‘unproductive.’ But why do we place so little value on replenishing ourselves? Why is self-care considered indulgent rather than essential?
Reframing Rest
Culturally and socially, we’ve been conditioned to see worth in productivity. Women in particular are expected to, more than men, to seamlessly juggle paid work, caregiving, household management, and emotional labour.
Even flexible work practices, intended to create balance, have reinforced the expectation that we can “do it all” from home — working while parenting, doing the washing, and being perpetually available.
But if we do not allow ourselves real rest, the consequences are profound. Burnout, stress, and exhaustion are all too common. A 2024 survey by Bloom UK* found that more than 93% of women experience mental health issues due to poor work-life balance, with 83% also reporting physical health struggles. Maybe we are living this life ourselves, or we certainly know others in this predicament.
Yet we still resist rest, telling ourselves “I should be doing something.”
Choosing Rest Without Guilt
I would like to encourage all of the women I know to challenge our own mindsets. Let’s start attributing value to incorporating deep rest practices into our lives — not as a luxury, but as a necessity. When we rest, we refill our energy reserves, allowing us to be more present, more fulfilled, and ultimately, more generous to those around us.
Making space for rest isn’t always easy, but it’s a practice worth nurturing and one which I now pour my years of experience from corporate and business environments and now health practices into. Listen to your body, your mind, your emotions. If your cup is empty, how can you pour into others?
Reframing rest as essential self-care rather than wasted time is a small but powerful shift.
Make This The Year You Reclaim Rest
This year let’s commit to resting without guilt. Let’s challenge the belief that our worth is tied to productivity measured by the dominating economic assumptions of our society. Let’s role model healthy rest practices for those around us.
Because rest isn’t just about getting enough sleep. It’s about living well. And we all deserve that.
Reference sources and acknowledgements
*Bloom UK survey 2024 The Juggle
Whilst I was researching this topic I came across this article and have drawn inspiration and concepts from it.
Rest gap: why women get less rest than men
I also want to acknowledge the group of creative women whose conversation I listened to during a recent meet-up and which inspired revisiting the research that followed. I am grateful to you but also optimistic that the next conversation can be gently steered towards recognising the benefits of time for ourselves.
