Hey Reader hey!

Lemme tell you about a season earlier this year when I finally stopped tryna PERFORM even rest. (I know crazy right?)

And not rest itself, but the actual PERFORMANCE of rest... as in the strategy, the "optimized recovery" routine, the strictly boxed in morning and evening wind down calendar reset that feels more like another deliverable. Chiiiiiiiile... I was absolutely exhausted by ALLLLL of it ya hear me?! 😫

So.... I stopped.

I told myself I was gonna take a week off from doin' rest "the right way".... no tracking, no systems, no productivity frameworks - nothing! And ya know what I noticed first Reader?

How much productivity tasks I was still calling "rest" at a slower pace... 🫠 Lemme know if this sounds familiar

• Reading self-help books to get ahead or get smarter
• Praying THROUGH a list (like breezing through just to say you actually lifted somebody up in prayer 😬 come on I know I ain't the only one)
• Journaling to process... more "efficiently" instead of just immersing yourself in the process or engaging with your feelings

Yeaaaaaaa so I had literally turned every single recovery practice into another form of achievement. YIKES! 🥴 And the truth was I probably hadn't actually taken a real exhale in quite some time. Not really... cuz it's REALLY easy to get caught up in old habits.

The second thing I noticed? When I truly stopped - as in - when I sat with zero agenda and just let myself be a person God was tendin' to... Girl... something in me… loosened... in the best possible way.

But I ain't gon' hold you the first few days felt like withdrawal fr. 😂 My hands kept reachin' for something to do. My brain kept generatin' tasks cuz it ain't get the memo. But by the end? I remembered what it felt like to RECEIVE rest instead of tryna' manufacture it.

And that's a whole different mood Honey 🥺

Here's what hit me different when I finally got still enough to hear it: Psalm 23 don't say He ASSIGNS us to green pastures like it's a project on our to-do list Reader. It says He 👏🏾 LEADS 👏🏾 us 👏🏾 there! 👏🏾

There's a gentleness in that word Babes. ❤️ An invitation to trust that He ALREADY knows when we need it: even before we do. Sooooo that meant my job wasn't to optimize the path, but actually to just follow it... PERIODT. 🤎

Nah I ain't sayin' stop everything Reader. I'm sayin'... if ya rest feels like ANOTHER thing you're managin'... it's probably worth askin' yourself what you would actually notice if you just... let Him lead for a lil while... or permanently but hey... 🤷🏽‍♀️ He's JUST the Creator of THE Universe... who knows the beginning and the end... 😂

High key Boo? You *might* find out (like I did) that sometimes the answer is just... surrender... 😮‍💨 Whew Chile... I know that's like a cuss word to ambitious women used to bein' let down buuuuuttt try it... then lemme know how it goes mkay?

Love you Reader - mean it! 😘

💖 Dr. Seida Hood

Licensed Therapist + Anti-Hustle Guide

Creator of The Hustle Rehab®

PS. If you want the framework behind actual rest and NOT rest you gotta earn, execute and jump through 97 hoops first, but rest you can actually RECEIVE - that's exactly what the 5-day audio reset is built around Honey Bunch! Come on in 🎧