11/14/2025
Make Rest and Joy the Baseline
Most of us build our lives backward.
We start with work, chores, obligations — and then try to fit in rest, joy, or play wherever there’s a gap.
But what if we flipped it?
What if rest and joy weren’t the “extras,” but the foundation?
What if we planned our days around what replenishes us — and fit work, errands, and productivity into the remaining space?
Start With the Center
Ask yourself:
•What brings you deep rest?
•What brings you quiet joy or genuine delight?
•What moments make you feel alive and connected again?
These aren’t rewards for finishing your to-do list — they’re what make life worth doing at all.
So, schedule them first.
Put your morning walk, your evening reading time, your slow coffee, your laughter with friends on the calendar.
Then, build the rest around that.
When rest and joy are your baseline:
•You work from fullness, not depletion.
•You do chores with more presence and less resentment.
•You stop chasing balance — because balance becomes your starting point.
You begin to realize: rest isn’t a pause from life.
It is life.
Everything else just fits around it.
