You Don't Have to Earn Your Rest Tonight
Affirmations for the Burned-Out Changemaker Who Can’t Quiet the To-Do List
It’s late. Your body is tired but your brain won’t stop. You’re running through everything you didn’t finish, everything that’s waiting for you tomorrow, everything you should have done differently today. Sound familiar?
What if, instead of powering through that spiral, you let someone tell you the truth?
In the season one finale of Just Rest: Burnout Tips for Everyday Radicals, I compiled every “Dear Rest Rebels” message from this season’s guests — Dana Tenille Weekes, Jordan Maney, Jacki Hayes, Taina Brown, Elaina Ramsey, Ixchel Lunar, Becky Mollenkamp, Malik Turley, Catharine Montgomery and Anna DeShawn — into one 11-minute episode of pure rest affirmations. Voice after voice, from people doing hard, values-driven work in the world, all arriving at the same place: You are enough, you are worthy, and it is safe to rest.
I cried while editing it. More than once. And I’m not an easy crier.
Save this post, and save that episode. Both are here for the hard nights.
Before you keep reading — a question or two:
What’s the thought that most keeps you from resting tonight? And what would it mean to you to genuinely believe that your worth isn’t tied to your productivity?
Sit with those questions. And if something comes up that you want to explore further:
📩 Email me at nicole@defythetrend.com
🎙️ Leave a voice message via SpeakPipe — I’d love to hear what’s on your heart 💙
🗣️ Join the conversation in the Rest Rebel Collective on Substack
You Are Safe Enough to Rest
One of the most powerful things Dana Tenille Weekes offered this season was a definition of rest rooted in self-acceptance, agency and belonging. Not a bubble bath. Not a productivity reset. Rest as a state of being in which you are safe — connected to yourself, to your body, to something larger than your to-do list.
You don’t have to earn that safety. It already belongs to you.
Affirmation for right now: I am safe in this moment, and I let go of everything that is out of my control.
Rest Can Look However You Need It To
Two of this season’s guests – Jacki Hayes and Taina Brown – reminded us not to expect your rest to look the same as everyone else’s. Maybe tonight’s rest is a guided practice. Maybe it’s lying still in the dark. Maybe it’s a few deep breaths before you close your eyes.
The system that told you otherwise is the thing that’s broken. Not you.
Affirmation for this evening: My mind is allowed to power down, and my body is allowed to feel heavy and relaxed.
Need Support for Your Rest Journey?
Sometimes reading about rest isn’t enough — you need someone in your corner to help you actually build it into your life. If you’re struggling to slow down, feeling guilty every time you stop, or just not sure where to start, I’d love to help.
My Guided Rest for a Hard Day session is a gentle, one-on-one space designed to help you find what rest actually looks like for you — and start practicing it without the guilt.
You Are Worthy of Rest — No Matter What Today Looked Like
Several guests this season came back to the same truth from different angles: your value is not transactional. It does not increase when you produce more and decrease when you don’t. You had worth before today’s tasks. You have worth right now, whatever got done or didn’t. You will have worth tomorrow.
Affirmation for tonight: I did enough today, and I trust myself to handle tomorrow when it arrives.
🎧 Listen, Rate & Review
I’m not here chasing numbers — but I do want to find the other people who are running on empty and need to know that burnout is not all their fault.
Listen to Just Rest: Burnout Tips for Everyday Radicals wherever you get your podcasts, or watch on YouTube.
⭐ If this episode resonates, please take a moment to rate and review. It helps more tired, caring people find these conversations when their minds’ won’t stop at 3 a.m.
Connect with the Guests
Dana Tennille Weekes: https://therestofuspodcast.com/
Jordan Maney: https://substack.com/@thejordanmaney
Jacki Hayes: https://www.jackihayes.co/
Taina Brown: email info@tainambrown.com
Ixchel Lunar: https://ixchellunar.com/
Malik Turley: https://tapasmovement.com
Catharine Montgomery: https://thebettertogetheragency.com
Becky Mollenkamp: https://beckymollenkamp.com/
Elaina Ramsey: https://www.faithchoiceohio.org
Anna DeShawn: https://queernewspod.substack.com
About Nicole Havelka
Nicole Havelka is a coach, facilitator, and the host of Just Rest: Burnout Tips for Everyday Radicals — a podcast for burned-out changemakers who need permission to rest without guilt and inspiration for showing up without burning out.
She works with individuals and organizations who are tired of running on empty.
For individuals, Nicole offers coaching for people who need real support with time management, building sustainable rest practices, or just an honest sounding board. Nicole is a lot like that good friend who will always tell you when you have spinach in your teeth with kindness, and because she actually wants you to succeed.
or organizations, Nicole works with mission-driven teams and leaders who are losing their best people to exhaustion and burnout, struggling with unproductive conflict, or watching miscommunication quietly erode their culture. She helps them build the kind of environments where people can do their best work — and actually want to stay.
Nicole is also the founder of the Rest Rebel Collective, a paid subscriber community on Substack where burned-out changemakers find community and practical tools, and the Calm Calendar Club, a planning and productivity offering for women and femmes in the Sandwich Generation who want to put down some of the balls they have in the air.
Her work is grounded in one belief: rest is not a reward. It is resistance. And it is how we stay true to our core purpose and mission.
Listen to the Pod – https://justrest.buzzsprout.com
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