Are You Resting… or Just Switching Types of Busy?

Are you feeling it too?

That frantic push to get every project wrapped up, every major goal met, and every performance evaluation squared away before the year closes.

I feel it as well. After an intense peak season of speaking engagements, I can sense that familiar pull to just “push through” to the finish line.

It’s a pattern I notice constantly in high-achieving professionals: we operate in intense peaks of work, and when we finally hit a valley (ahem… like an upcoming holiday), we don’t actually rest.

We simply trade one kind of “busy” for another.

We trade project deadlines for party planning.
We trade team management for family management.
We trade “work-busy” for “holiday-busy,” and it often feels like “forced fun” rather than true renewal.

In the final chapter of my book, Break Up. Break In. Breakthrough!, I use a metaphor from a Disney character introduced in 1968—Herbie the Lovebug. Herbie is a Volkswagen Beetle race car known for finishing races in dramatic fashion. He was usually victorious (against the slimmest odds), but he often crossed the finish line battered and bruised, with a bumper or headlamp hanging on by a thread.

Too many of us end our year just like that. And instead of heading to the repair shop, we rev the engine for the next race—broken bumper and all—and dive straight into the holiday marathon.

In my book, I talk about the “3 R’s”: Rest, Replenish, and Recommit. We often confuse the first two.

This is why you can “rest” on the couch all weekend binge-watching a show and still feel completely drained on Monday morning. You may have gotten physical rest, but you didn’t replenish what was truly depleted.

Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, in her book Sacred Rest, identifies seven types of rest. After years of post-project detoxing, I’ve learned that the ones I struggle with most are spiritual, social, and mental rest:

Social Rest: Limiting draining interactions and seeking support from positive, trusted people.
Mental Rest: Quieting a mind that’s constantly juggling ten different things.
Spiritual Rest: Finding meaning and purpose through reflection or spiritual practices.

When you’re racing toward year-end—or any major finish line—you’re likely not just physically tired. You’re depleted in these other critical areas.

So here’s the question I want to challenge you (and myself) with:

“What kind of rest do you actually need?”

Don’t trade one form of “busy” for another. Be intentional with your renewal.

Maybe you need Spiritual Rest: a moment of prayer, reflection, or grounding outside the noise.
Maybe you need Emotional Rest: permission to say “no” to something that feels draining—even if it’s supposed to be “fun.”
Maybe you need Mental Rest: an afternoon with no screens, no notifications, and nothing new to solve.

P.S. If you’re reflecting on your long-term career strategy, the first step is understanding where you stand. The FREE Breakthrough Formula Generator quiz can help you identify your personalized formula for success. play “pinch, poke, you owe me a Coke” with you. And I invite you to do the same for me. Who knows what we can “see” together!