Stop optimizing every minute, start living them

The case for sacred rest

Yesterday, I listened to a podcast encouraging people to stay productive even while on holiday or during PTO.

It made me pause.

Not because I disagreed entirely, but because I felt a quiet resistance within me — the kind that comes from years of valuing “airplane mode.”

Is productivity really the goal, even when we’ve stepped away from our desks?
What if doing “nothing” is exactly the kind of reset our minds need?

I’ve often found that it's during these unstructured, quiet times — the lazy mornings, the walks without purpose, the hours without agenda — that I actually reconnect with myself, my thoughts, and even my creativity.

We talk so much about optimizing time, but do we give enough space to just be? Does rest always need to serve a function, or can it be sacred in itself?