🌿The Power of the Pause: Making Space for Healing

A warm cup of tea in hand and tissues nearby, a familiar scene that brings back a lesson life continues to offer: healing takes time, and permission must be given to take it.

A long-awaited 14-day trip to Portugal is approaching. The suitcase remains unpacked, the to-do list still long, and just as the final stretch begins, the signs appear, a scratchy throat, a heavy body, the quiet whisper of a cold.

The instinct is immediate: push through, get it done, keep going. Years of habit have reinforced that response, showing up sick, staying late, skipping rest, and putting others first. In the world of child welfare, where the work is deeply meaningful and the stakes feel high, it’s easy to believe everything depends on one person.

But the truth is clear: it doesn’t all have to fall on one set of shoulders.

The Cost of Constantly Powering Through

For years, hard work felt like a badge of honor, dependable, tireless, always available. Yet beneath that badge was a body running on empty and a spirit quietly asking for space to breathe.

Ignoring the body’s signals in favor of productivity sends a dangerous message: you only matter when you’re doing.

That belief is false.

 Rest Is Not a Reward, It’s a Right

With time and reflection comes the understanding that rest isn’t something to be earned after doing enough. It’s a necessity that allows everything else to be done well.

Healing, whether from illness, burnout, or emotional fatigue, is not selfish. It’s sacred. It’s a declaration that well-being matters, that the body is not a machine, and that worth is not defined by output.

The work will wait. Others can step in. It’s not necessary to carry it all or give everything away.

A New Kind of Preparation

This week, instead of racing to complete every task before departure, the choice is to slow down. To nap instead of over-plan. To sip broth instead of answer one more email. To trust that the world will keep turning even when paused.

The goal is to arrive in Portugal not just present, but fully alive.

A Gentle Invitation

For anyone feeling the pull of exhaustion, consider these questions:

• What is the body asking for right now?

• Where is there pushing through instead of pausing?

• What would it look like to honor healing?

Rest does not need to be earned. It only needs to be allowed.

With care and compassion,

Robin