It wasn’t until I turned 36 that I truly understood the importance of rest.

Work, career, money, stability, and the ability to achieve various goals had always been my priorities.

I was never taught in school how relaxation and rest affect a person.

I never saw at home the concept of vacation and downtime.

My beloved father worked Monday through Friday, often for 12 hours a day, and on weekends, he would work in my mom’s orchard. He worked even with a 38-degree fever, worked through back pain, fulfilling my mom’s expectations. For 25 years, he took every vacation just to work more.

In my mind, rest had rooted itself as laziness. An overindulgent whim for weak people who didn’t understand how important hard work is.

I had never heard that to truly serve others, I needed to prioritize myself first. Honestly, no one talked about 'self-care’ or reflecting on their own feelings back then.

It wasn’t until I was 36 that I experienced firsthand what it means to push yourself too far, to the point of breaking. It wasn’t that I hadn’t been doing it before, but as you get older, your body starts pushing back harder. I learned what it feels like to have nothing left to give to others because I had nothing left for myself.

That’s when I began noticing how the people around me were living: working 40-plus hours a week, raising children, renovating homes, juggling extra jobs, and courses. I observed how we buy things and take out loans, tying a noose around our necks. Instead of living more comfortably, we start suffocating, chasing money that always seems in short supply.

I feel like the pace is such that if you trip, you get swept away by the current.

In Poland, we have a culture of hustle. We’ve learned that we need to rebuild, to do more than others because we have less. And it feels like those post-war assumptions haven’t been revisited, adjusted to the type of work and opportunities we have today.

We focus on achieving goals at the expense of our health, assuming it’s there. We forget that those goals lose their meaning the moment our health is gone.

That’s why, after some health scares, in March of this year, I decided to prioritize recovery. Rest has become an important routine for me. Now, I often say to my friends and family that rest is my priority (which brings quite a few smiles).

Even though this statement may initially sound like a confession of a slacker, beneath the surface of this supposed laziness is a simple assumption: health and maintaining oneself in good condition.

So what does this look like in practice?

The core of this approach is planning weekly recovery activities. Just like I plan work tasks, every day and week, I add to my to-do list activities that will help regenerate my body.

This could be a massage, yoga, meditation, group classes, a concert, a walk with family, or going out with friends.

Without focusing on this, it’s so easy to fall into the hamster wheel of responsibilities. Instead of feeling like the day belongs to me, I feel like I’m giving it to everyone but myself.

That’s when the syndrome of waiting for the weekend to come kicks in, like in that song 

– but life won’t be later.

That’s why I now start every day with a one-hour routine dedicated solely to myself. The hardest part was incorporating these 'extra duties’ and making them stick. The key is to introduce one habit at a time, starting small. For instance, begin with something simple like drinking green tea each morning for a month, then gradually add a 10-minute workout from an app, and so on.

A morning routine dedicated to yourself is essential. It shifts the focus away from immediately tending to others’ needs. By starting the day with something for you, it sets a more positive tone, creating a completely different—and much better—beginning.

Of course, establishing new routines isn’t the easiest. To introduce additional routines, I had to develop two things in myself.

• Getting up earlier than everyone else gives me the quiet time I need, especially since once the day starts, I have little time for myself until my son goes to bed. It’s tough, though, because I still get up at night for him, so I adjust my wake-up time depending on how the night went.
• Selfishness—taking time for myself, like going to a class, means that parenting duties fall entirely on my husband. I used to feel guilty about this, but now I focus on the bigger goal: maintaining my well-being. I’ve learned that healthy selfishness is about building your own resources, based on a simple rule: the more you have, the more you can give. This doesn’t mean we’re not sharing responsibilities—it means we’re sharing them more wisely.

I haven’t stopped there.

Recognizing the need for better balance, I negotiated with my employer to work four days a week, taking every Friday off from March through July. During this time, I focused on activities like yoga, forest walks, rehabilitation, and working on personal goals. This dedicated time allowed me to catch my breath and regain strength, both physically and mentally. Fortunately, my employer understands that a healthy employee is a more effective one, so there was no problem with adjusting my schedule.

Interestingly, instead of delivering less, I began to deliver more – I do things faster and better. Even though I spend less time on them, my efficiency has increased.

The type of work definitely matters here. In a creative job like mine, focusing on fewer but more thoughtful tasks leads to better results. My experience, along with access to AI tools, allows me to work smarter.

Of course, implementing any new system requires space. If you’re a parent with a child who wakes up eight times a night (which was my case for a loong time), finding the energy for change is difficult. Similarly, if your employer expects overtime, it can be challenging to figure out how to make adjustments.

That’s why I’m not saying that now is the right time for you to revolutionize things – you need to choose that time for yourself.

Still, I believe that prioritizing your own well-being should be the main goal. It’s not always easy to maintain—let’s be honest, we rarely stick to everything perfectly—but having a clear vision of where we want to go allows us to adjust our path along the way.

That’s why I no longer wish people success at work – I wish them good rest and recovery. And success will follow.