When Rest Stops Feeling Accidental—and Starts Feeling Chosen

I want to offer a challenge for you this January that changed my life:

Take one day off every month — whatever “off” means for you.

I know, I know.

As musicians, there’s always something we could be doing.

And that’s the problem.

We don’t always have offices to leave or coworkers turning off the lights at 5 pm.

Instead, we have endless invisible tasks swirling in the background: practicing, admin, emails, replying to inquiries, planning for performances, updating websites…

Even when I wasn’t working, I’d hear the guilt whispering:

“You could be practicing.”

“You should respond to that email.”

“You’re falling behind.”

And honestly?

The hardest part wasn’t the work itself.

It was giving myself permission to rest without guilt.

So how did I start to combat that?

✨ I scheduled my rest.

I’m a planner. So for me, scheduling my time off made it intentional instead of avoidant.

It kept me from slipping into the “oops, I canceled my work day because I’m exhausted and now I feel bad about it” cycle.

That's not to say I always did this perfectly. There were a number of times I scheduled time off but didn't follow it...because there was so much to DO!

But in time, I learned that when I build time off into my calendar:

💛 It feels more purposeful

💛 It protects my boundaries

💛 It creates sustainability

If you’ve ever struggled to take time off without feeling guilty, I want you to know you’re not doing anything wrong! Any cycle is hard to break, and you've been in this one for a long time.

But this month, try scheduling one block of real rest.

Your creativity will thank you.