Rest has its own language.

When the physical and psychological bodies need rest, they have their own ways of voicing that need. The physical body is familiar—exhaustion, sleepiness, soreness.

The psychological body, however, can be a little more subtle. Irritability, mood shifts, and a propensity for lows—these can be signs that we need rest. Sometimes even our thoughts—the negative ones, the ones that cause anxiety or depression—may in themselves just be a sign that more rest is necessary, rather than needing to solve something major in one's life.

Taking the time to rest is challenging. In a culture that demands so much of us and often makes us feel unsafe when we are not building toward greater prosperity, rest can feel like losing pace.

Counterintuitively, it is the very cycle that allows us to keep pace rather than burn out.