Rewriting My Type-A Programming: Rest Is Not the Enemy

This week started on the couch with a sinus infection, and more importantly, with a big dose of resistance.

For most of my life, I’ve been what people call a “Type A” person: driven, high-achieving, goal-oriented, and always pushing to do more, be more, produce more. It's how I’ve built my business. It's how I made my way through school, through jobs, and into leadership roles.

But lately, I’ve been waking up to something deeper and harder.

You see, I grew up with incredibly hardworking parents. My dad worked long hours, and when he came home, rest was not something that was modeled or encouraged. If we were lounging on the couch or watching TV, we’d get the look. Sometimes words. We were supposed to be outside, doing homework, cleaning, being productive — and preferably, out of his way.

That was the beginning of the programming that told me
✨ Rest is lazy. Rest is wrong. Rest is something you apologize for.

To this day, I catch myself apologizing to my husband when I take a nap. I still feel the need to justify slowing down. And as an entrepreneur — someone constantly building, growing, and showing up — those messages run deep. They whisper, "You’re falling behind. You’re not doing enough. You’re wasting time."

But here’s the truth I’m learning, slowly and imperfectly:
👉 Rest is a strategy.
👉 Rest is a radical act of sustainability.
👉 Rest is leadership.

As someone who now works in workplace well-being, who teaches leaders to care for themselves so others feel permission to do the same, I had to face the disconnect. How could I ask others to rest, to trust their bodies, to pause… if I wasn’t willing to do it myself?

So this week, I had a choice.

I could push through.
Or I could cancel my meetings and listen to what my body actually needed.

I chose rest.
Even if it felt messy, even if it stirred up guilt, even if my inner Type-A voice tried to convince me otherwise.

Because this is the work now — rewiring my brain to understand that rest isn’t failure. It’s the foundation. It’s what allows me to show up fully for my clients, my mission, and my life.

If you're someone who struggles with slowing down, know this: you're not alone. Resting doesn’t make you lazy. It makes you wise, intentional, and deeply human.

Let’s stop apologizing for being human. Let’s normalize pausing. Let’s build a new culture in our lives, our businesses, and our workplaces, where rest is no longer the reward for burning out. It’s the rhythm that sustains us all.