Every year, as the holiday season approaches, workplaces rehearse the same familiar script: cheerful emails about "well-deserved breaks," reminders to "rest and recharge," and glossy corporate posts celebrating "work-life balance."
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And yet, beneath the surface of all that festive messaging, many workers feel the opposite - pressure to wrap up projects, guilt about stepping away, and the creeping sense that rest is something to be earned only after every last task is complete.
We talk about holidays as a time of joy, connection, and renewal. But for many people, they've become another arena where productivity culture quietly asserts itself. Even when the calendar says "holiday," the mind whispers, "You should be doing more."
The truth is that taking time for yourself - real time, not the performative kind where you're "off" but still checking email - is one of the most quietly rebellious acts a worker can make today.
It pushes back against a system that has normalised exhaustion, blurred boundaries, and the idea that our worth is measured by output, despite the shaky "right to disconnect" laws that recently came in.
The holidays expose this tension more clearly than any other season.
They remind us that rest is supposed to be cyclical, not conditional. That humans are not machines. That stepping away is not a luxury but a biological and emotional necessity.
And yet, so many people struggle to do it. Me included.
Part of the problem is cultural. We've built workplaces where urgency is the default, where responsiveness is equated with commitment, and where taking leave can feel like creating inconvenience for others. Even when policies encourage time off, the unspoken norms often discourage it. Workers internalise the message that rest is something to squeeze into the margins, not something to prioritise.
But another part of the problem is deeply personal. Many of us have been conditioned to override our own needs. We push through fatigue, ignore the early signs of burnout, and tell ourselves we'll rest "later." The holidays arrive, and instead of slowing down, we sprint-toward family obligations, social expectations, and the pressure to make everything "special."
Usually for others.
I find myself pondering, what would it look like to reclaim this season as a time for genuine restoration?
It starts with giving ourselves permission to pause. Not because we've earned it through perfect productivity, but because we are human. Because our bodies and minds require downtime in the same way they require food and sleep. Because creativity, clarity, and emotional resilience don't come from grinding harder - they come from space.
It also means redefining what rest actually is. Rest is not simply the absence of work.
It's the presence of care. It's choosing activities that replenish rather than deplete.
It's allowing slowness. It's saying no without apology. It's recognising that your value does not evaporate when you step away from your inbox.
For workplaces, this season is an opportunity to model something better. Not just by encouraging time off, but by structurally supporting it-reducing end-of-year crunch, setting clear expectations about availability, and normalising the idea that rest is part of sustainable work, not a disruption to it. Leaders who take time off themselves send a powerful message: rest is not a weakness; it's wisdom.
But the most transformative shift happens at the individual level. When workers choose to rest - truly rest - they challenge a culture that profits from their depletion.
They demonstrate that boundaries are not barriers but forms of self-respect. They show that taking time for oneself is not selfish; it's foundational.
The holidays don't have to be a performance of joy layered on top of exhaustion.
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They can be a reset. A recalibration. A reminder that we are allowed to be more than our roles, our responsibilities, or our productivity.
So, this year, consider making rest your quiet act of resistance. Step away without guilt. Let the world spin without you for a moment. Trust that your worth is not tied to your output. And remember that taking time for yourself is not an indulgence - it's an investment in the version of you who will return, not drained, but restored.
In a culture that glorifies busyness, choosing rest is revolutionary. And the holidays, with all their contradictions and pressures, might be the perfect time to practice that revolution.
Framed like this, perhaps even I can get on board. Can you?
- Zoë Wundenberg is a careers consultant and un/employment advocate at impressability.com.au, and a regular columnist for ACM.
