Hello dear one,

This past weekend, a group of us rested. Really rested. We each set the time aside in our own homes and came together for our live calls, and what struck me is how differently we each did it. Some needed deep stillness. Some needed to do less and find the spaces to slow down between life being life. Some just needed company in it. There's no single right way to rest. There's only what each person needed, and whether they paused to notice what was there for them.

I want to share one moment from the weekend, because it holds the question underneath so much of this.

While I was talking about my own rest practice, someone I love deeply, who is in the thick of caring for an injured family member right now, stopped and really listened, and then asked: "But how do you rest when there's so much that has to be done?"

It's such an honest question. And so many of you are living inside it. The caregivers. The ones managing something that asks for constant tending. The helpers and the holders, the ones everyone leans on.

Here's what I found myself saying: You have to find the pauses you can take. Resting when there's so much to do starts with remembering that you matter too, that your needs are real even when someone else's feel urgent. The pauses between things aren't a luxury you haven't earned. It's the very thing that lets you keep going.

Sometimes the pause is small, a few breaths before the next task. Sometimes it's bigger and harder, like asking for help so you can actually rest. Both count. Both are you saying, I matter in this too.

Because if you pour and pour and never refill, eventually there's nothing left to pour. The people you're caring for need you to be as resourced as you can be, and rest helps you get there. Running yourself until you're out of fuel and depleted doesn't help you or anyone else.

That's what I took with me from this weekend. That even in the middle of everything that has to be done, there is room, there has to be room, for the one doing it.

If you couldn't join us live, the rest is still here for you whenever you're ready. You can move through Radical Rest: Whenever You're Ready in your own time, in your own home, at whatever pace your life allows. We're planning our next Radical Rest Retreat for September and we'll send out details when we have them if you'd like to join the group next time.

There's something else I've been noticing, too. When we finally slow down, things tend to surface, the patterns we run without realizing, the ways we move through the world that we never quite chose. That's where I'm headed in Friday's letter, so keep an eye out for it. For now, though, the invitation is simply to rest in whatever way feels right for you.

And a question to ponder, since you're the one who knows your life: where is one pause you could take today, even a small one?

With love,

Rebecca