50. The Rest Revolution
It has been a year y’all since the podcast began. A year! Can you believe it? And to celebrate, I’m introducing the name change of the podcast, welcome to Redefining Rest for Public Health Professionals. Same coaching, same amazing content, same mission, we’re just turning it up a notch. We’re starting a revolution.
Did you know that companies that have implemented unlimited paid time off as a means to support their staff have found they don’t actually take advantage of it? I bet you too have accrued a PTO vacation bank of weeks of time off, and they’re just sitting there, not being used. Why is that?
Join me this week as I talk more about the name change, what has happened in the last year since starting the podcast, and some amazing prizes I’m giving away to celebrate. Discover why I believe it’s time to revolutionize rest for the public health field, why we deny ourselves the rest we need, the factors at play that keep us from getting more rest, and why the rest revolution starts in your hands.
If you want to take this work deeper and learn the tools and skills to feel better, all while having my support and guidance each step of the way, I invite you to set up a time to chat with me. Click here to grab a spot on my calendar and I can’t wait to speak to you!
The Burnout Recovery course is out and available right now! Join this three-part mini-course to get concrete tools and skills to help you reduce pandemic stress, deal with difficult bosses, and reduce your workload.
What You Will Discover:
What it means to revolutionize rest for the public health field.
The factors at play that determine what we believe about rest and whether we deserve it.
Why this rest revolution isn’t about demanding leadership or organizational change.
The real reason you’re not getting the rest you need.
Resources:
Get The Burnout Recovery Resolution mini-course right now by signing up here!
Sign up for a Curiosity Call to find out if individual coaching can help you!
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Questions? Comments? I'd love to hear from you! Email me at info@mckoolcoaching.com
Join my weekly mailing list to get bonus free resources and coaching opportunities!
Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang
Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily and Amelia Nagoski
44. Experiencing Intense Emotions with Self-Care and Kindness
Full Episode Transcript:
Hey you all, I’m Marissa McKool, and you’re listening to the Redefining Rest Podcast for public health professionals. Here we believe rest is your right. You don’t have to earn it, you just have to learn how to take it and I’m going to teach you. Ready? Come along.
Welcome everyone. I am so glad you’re here. If you are a continuing listener, a long-time listener, you probably pulled up today’s podcast and thought “oh that’s a new name, that’s a new picture!” Yep. New name, we’re the Redefining Rest podcast now, same amazing content, just different podcast title, different picture, just so we can amplify our mission and what we have been doing here in this corner of the podcast world so more people in public health can find us. And see what we’re doing and understand it, and be drawn to it and listen.
And for those of you who are new, maybe you just found this podcast because of the name change, because it’s been promoted. Welcome. I’m so, so, so glad you’re here, I’m honored you’re here, welcome to our community. I hope you continue to be a part of this community, where we are on a mission of course to eliminate our burnout and stress but really center rest. Live in rest. Indulge and bathe in rest. We’ll talk more in a little bit as well as future episodes what exactly that means and there is already a few episodes if you are a new listener about rest. If you do want to go back and check them out.
I have an episode on the lie of productivity, I think there is one just called rest or something from the very beginning, I have one on intentional rest, and there is lots of other goodness, I mean it’s been 50 episodes y’all, can you believe it? A year. A year since making this podcast. Some of you know this, but I started this having no clue what I was doing. I’m not exaggerating, I listen to podcasts, but I had no idea what went into them, I googled everything.
I started to record in my closet, which by the way, was not fun. The door had to be closed by the end of recording I was dripping with sweat it was so hot in there and so tiny. The equipment I had wasn’t helpful, and so sometimes my computer would overheat, and I would have to start over, or it would cut out, the mic wasn’t good. And then I was editing everything myself which I’m no sound engineer or podcast editor, I had no idea what to do. That would take me hours, I mean I think one podcast episode would take me 8 hours to do.
Now a year later, 50 episodes later, I have a better mic, I can record in my office, I have a production team, it’s just unbelievable what humans can do in a year. I know many of you have heard this before, but we way overestimate what we can do in one day and way underestimate what we can do in a year.
In the year since I started this podcast and started my coaching business I actually left my full-time job and am now coaching full time, I moved in with my partner, we got engaged, the podcast now has a production team, I created a course. So much has happened. I’m now in a feminist coaching certification and deepening my business and growing my business and getting more clients. It’s just unbelievable how much can happen in a year when you want it to. When you have the tools. When you have the ability to reduce your stress, create more time and rest more.
And that was one of the principles I started this podcast with. Those of you who have been around the whole time know this. When I started doing this myself, and had to do everything myself, I would do I think 3 or 4 episodes then a week off to give myself rest. And I felt strongly about that. Not just for myself but to show you all and model it to you all how important rest is. And hiring a production team is a form of rest because it went from, gosh, eight or more hours a week of doing everything myself, to now maybe two, two and a half sometimes, even less sometimes.
So it’s just blowing my mind, I‘m so happy you’re all here. We’ve had 50 amazing episodes. If you’re new or you have just missed some, I encourage you to go back and check them out, there are some episodes on what are your thoughts and how to change them, processing emotions, indecision, how to make a decision, feeling pride, reducing stress at work, I mean there is just so much goodness in the past year on this podcast so make sure to check that out.
And moving forward I’m going to talk a little bit more in a second about the premise of redefining rest. The content’s not changing, it’s still amazing coaching work for public health professionals to reduce your stress, eliminate your burnout, and most importantly get more rest, it’s still that. We’re just amplifying the mission, we’re just turning it up a notch, we’re starting a revolution. And we want more people to hear about it and be able to come to us, and be a part of this community, and hear this message and get this help.
So I’m going to share more on that and on the rest revolution in one second, I also want to let you know, with this anniversary, with this exciting change, I am doing a really, really fun podcast giveaway. I have been teasing at this, I have been dying to tell y’all, and now I can. So excited. So three lucky winners are going to get the prizes are either a $150 gift card at a local spa, which come on, how many of you have been like “oh I need a massage” or “I’d love a facial” or even “I even just need a haircut.” Or get a pedicure, or whatever it may be, but you never book it.
You always tell yourself you don’t have the money. Not anymore. Win this giveaway and you’re going to get a gift card to a local spa, local business near you, where you will be able to enjoy and indulge in that and get some rest. A second lucky winner is going to get two books. One is Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily and Amelia Nagoski, which I’ve mentioned them on the podcast before. And then the other one is a book called Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang.
Hopefully I’m pronouncing that correctly and my apologies if I’m not. Both really great books, so one lucky winner is going to get both of those, either a paper copy if you like to read with a book in hand, or if you prefer listening to books on audio, you’ll get it on audio. So whatever you like, your preference. And then the third giveaway is with a partnership with the public health millennial, which some of you know, if you don’t check him out. Omari Richins has amazing public health apparel, has a sweatshirt that says health equity matters, we’re going to give that away in your size, so three lucky winners, three amazing prizes, I cannot wait to find out who gets them.
And let me just tell you briefly really quickly how you’re going to enter this. All of the expansive details on how to enter are on my website, we will leave a link in the show notes, but I want to give you a very, very brief overview.
First it is super, super easy to enter, I mean it will take less than two minutes. We wanted to do this in a way that was easiest for you, that was quick for you, and efficient. So go to the link in my show notes to the website, it will take you where you can either read the instructions or watch a video we recorded explaining it. Again, it’s super simple. Essentially the link will take you to where you can rate and review this podcast on Apple podcast, and when you do that, it will record your name and email and you’ll be entered into the giveaway.
And if you do that, that’s the first step, you get a certain chunk of points. And then, if you decide to share on LinkedIn or Facebook or Instagram or wherever else, you get additional points. So the people with the highest amount of points get the three prizes, and it’s super easy because all you do is enter the information in this program called UpViral, it tracks your points, you don’t have to track your points, you can share from that platform, you don’t have to switch platforms, you just click share from there. Super, super easy. But make sure you follow that link to UpViral and then do the rate and review from there, from that platform, so that you can be entered into the giveaway. I’ll keep reminding you all. I’ll have it all over social media, we’re going to announce the winners on an upcoming podcast episode, and of course if you are a winner I will email you, so you don’t miss a thing.
Make sure to enter to get a spa gift card, amazing books to help you get more rest and eliminate your burnout, an amazing sweatshirt about health equity matters, all of that. So excited. So with that, we’re going to head into the episode, and talk about the rest revolution.
Okay. Let’s get into what we’re going to talk about today and that is starting or actually really continuing the rest revolution in the public health workforce. So, the public health field itself, the workforce needs a revolution. Before COVID ever hit, staff were burnt out.
The burnout the field is experiencing right now isn’t caused by COVID, it’s just been exacerbated by it. Stress, overwhelm, exhaustion were all present in enormously high levels before the pandemic. And all of you listening who are in public health know this. You maybe were working nights and weekends before the pandemic and now it’s even worse. Teams were already understaffed, budgets were already too low and being cut. You all were being underpaid, and underappreciated, and overworked.
And when we think about a revolution we typically think about an overthrow, overthrow of a system, or a government, or an upheaval of the way things are done. And when I’m talking about revolutionizing the public health workforce to get more rest I’m talking about your personal revolution, the revolution of your mind, your experience, your decisions, overthrowing how you think about rest, how you practice it, how you experience it. Plays a completely new way of thinking, and practicing, and experiencing rest in your experience, in your life.
So, you can actually get more rest, not just once but consistently, not just temporarily but sustainably. Where rest is not finite but it’s infinite. Where rest isn’t given, it’s taken. Rest isn’t earned, it’s your right. For so long you all public health staff have been waiting for leadership, for government, for organizations to change so you can get more rest, so you can feel less stressed but it hasn’t happened.
And the revolution, the rest revolution is about no longer waiting for that day which that day may never come. And it’s about putting the control back in your hands, the power back in your sphere. Again, this isn’t about starting a riot. It’s not even about forcing or demanding leadership or organization’s change. You can do that if you want. But that’s not what this specific rest revolution is about. It’s about you changing because here’s the thing.
Even if your boss suddenly hired more staff and then took things off your plate to help you, you would still end up not resting and burning out. Because the structural supports only work to help you get more rest and feel less stressed if your internal supports align with that. Meaning when you believe deep down unconsciously that rest is earned and you don’t deserve it. Then even if you get support to have more time off you won’t take it. You won’t know what to do with it. You will reject it. You’ll find something else to do.
You’ll make the current work you have, take longer because you’ll be more distracted. Let’s take unlimited PTO as an example. Some of you may not know this but companies that have implemented unlimited paid time off as a means to support their staff have actually found their staff do not take advantage of it. And in fact, some of the estimates show that employees who have access to unlimited PTO take 13 days off a year ago which is two days less than employees who have accrued PTO take off a year. So why is that?
Why when you have access to unlimited PTO that you actually don’t use it and you don’t take more time off? And you actually take less time off than folks who have kind of the standard accrued. Because the employees have the same beliefs, the same underlying beliefs that rest is earned, rest is given, productivity makes you worthy. You have to hustle for your worth. So that act of changing the policy doesn’t really change the outcome because those employees still have these underlying beliefs. They don’t have the mindset to take advantage of that change.
And honestly, some of you all listening right now you have accrued PTO and in your kind of PTO vacation bank you have two, three, four weeks of vacation days just sitting there because you haven’t used them. And this is because you believe, you have an underlying belief that rest is earned and given, and you have to prove your worth. Or that if you take time off it’ll burden others, there isn’t a good time. You have too much work. All of those beliefs are what drive you to deny opportunities of rest, to continue to be stressed even when you have structural supports like paid time off.
What prevents you from taking rest is your mind. And that is where the revolution has to be in. You know what will change the public health field, the structures, the policies, the systems, the norms? If every public health staff person revolutionize their mind. And in fact, we don’t even need every single person. We just need a good chunk of people to revolutionize their minds because norms are set by people based on their minds, on their thoughts.
A norm is just a sign that a chunk of people, a certain number of people think the same thing and decide that’s the way it’s going to be. They take actions based on those thoughts. They set policies based on those thoughts. So, to change the norm people have to change. For people to change their beliefs have to change. Now, listen, this isn’t a dictatorship. You don’t have to change your beliefs or mindset. I’m not inviting you to join or follow this revolution blindly or without consent. It’s not about forcing you to change.
This is about you understanding, and learning, and exploring another way to feel better. This is about showing you how to get more rest, how to save time, how to get what you want. And teaching you how to do that by revolutionizing your mind and the way you think about rest, and productivity, and value, and worth. And then you in your full autonomy and empowerment get to decide what you want to do. You can totally keep doing the things the way you have been, and thinking the things you have, and having the same beliefs.
That’s 100% your right, you totally get to do that. And if you want to do it differently I’m going to teach you how because the only reason we take rest or deny ourselves opportunities of rest is because of our beliefs. Denying rest because of some conscious beliefs, beliefs that you know you think such as I have too much to do, I’ll burden others, I can’t, it’ll be too hard, I’ll just do it later. If I just figure out how to get more done then I’ll take rest or some variation of those thoughts.
And then under those unconscious beliefs that lie beneath those that tell us productivity feels good. I have to be productive to get what I want. I’m not good enough. I have to earn rest. I don’t deserve rest. Rest is only a certain set of activities. Rest costs money. If you believed without a doubt in your core, I can feel good no matter what I do or don’t get done. I can take a vacation whenever I need to. I know exactly what feels restful to me. If you have those beliefs then you would be resting.
You would be taking those opportunities to rest rather than denying them, without second guessing yourself, without doubting yourself, without worrying about what others think, without believing you’re going to get in trouble. Our ideas of what rest is and how we get it, and how we practice it are not our own. They are internalized from messages we get from all around us, from family, and friends, and media, religion, news, social media, marketing companies, from systems of oppression including white supremacy, and the patriarchy, and toxic capitalism.
And we get all these messages and we internalize them and they drive our decisions and actions. To make different decisions to take different actions you need to have a different belief system about rest. You need to redefine rest for you. Rest is personal and unique to you. What it is for you is different for someone else. It’s flowing and not static. What rest might be for you now might not be what rest is for you in two years.
Deciding what you want to believe about rest, how you want to define it and giving yourself permission to change your beliefs starts with examining your current thoughts and belief system, your current thought patterns. Why you have them, how they’re impacting your life. And then you can change them if you want to. And that’s what we’re going to keep doing here on this podcast. And I know this work is lifechanging because it literally changed my life. I went from checking emails on nights and weekends to the point of tears often, not taking vacation, to only checking emails once or twice a day.
My first vacation which was a three week international vacation, I think it was my first actual vacation in several years. I have more time than ever before, I have more peace and rest than ever before. I don’t have any work stress and I didn’t even when I was still working full-time and starting my business on the side. And here’s the other thing. I know for sure I can 100% guarantee I will never be burnt out in a job because I know that burnout is an outcome of the way you think, not your organization, not your boss, not your salary.
Burnout is an outcome of your beliefs, the beliefs you have that drive you to deny yourself rest and overwork, the beliefs you have that drive you to chase productivity rather than doing things that give you joy, and replenishment, and rest. And because I have the skills and tools to manage my mind, decide on purpose what I want to believe, create thought patterns that drive actions, that get me the results I want I know 100% I will never be burnt out again. And all of you listening, you can get that too.
Because the treatment for burnout is rest. The prevention for burnout is rest, sustainable, consistent, infinite rest. And it all starts with a rested mind, a confident mind, an empowered mind. Once you do this work of redefining rest for you and changing your beliefs about productivity and rest you’ll reduce your workload without your boss having to hire more staff or quitting your job. You’ll increase your time. You’ll increase your rest and you’ll feel fucking better.
Isn’t that what you want, to not be stressed, to feel good, and energized, and happy about your life, and fulfilled, and excited about it? So, are you ready to come with me on this revolution? Here are some of the episodes coming up to look forward to that I can’t wait to share with you, that will help you revolutionize the way you think about rest and redefine rest because that’s what we’re doing here.
We’re going to talk about toxic productivity culture, the patriarchy in public health. Solving for busyness. The live work life balance and so, so much more. So, make sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, rate and review so others can find this. And together we can revolutionize the field of public health.
Alright y’all before we go. Do not forget to enter the giveaway. To either get a $150 gift card to a local spa, to treat yourself, to finally give yourself that time to be pampered, and to relax, whatever treatment you want. Or to get the books Burnout, and Rest. I mean, what more do you want? Eliminate your burnout, get more rest, perfect combination. Or the health equity matters sweatshirt. You can rep it around your city, around your town, say it loud and clear so everyone can see that health equity does matter. Amazing sweatshirt from the public health millennial Omari Richins. So make sure you enter. The link and simple instructions for how to do that are in the show notes. Check it out, and I’ll see you all next week. Bye everyone.
If you found this episode helpful then you have to check out my coaching program where I provide you individualized support to create a life centered around rest. Head on over to mckoolcoaching.com, that’s M-C-K-O-O-L coaching.com to learn more.
Welcome everyone. I am so glad you’re here. If you are a continuing listener, a long-time listener, you probably pulled up today’s podcast and thought “oh that’s a new name, that’s a new picture!” Yep. New name, we’re the Redefining Rest podcast now, same amazing content, just different podcast title, different picture, just so we can amplify our mission and what we have been doing here in this corner of the podcast world so more people in public health can find us. And see what we’re doing and understand it, and be drawn to it and listen.
And for those of you who are new, maybe you just found this podcast because of the name change, because it’s been promoted. Welcome. I’m so, so, so glad you’re here, I’m honored you’re here, welcome to our community. I hope you continue to be a part of this community, where we are on a mission of course to eliminate our burnout and stress but really center rest. Live in rest. Indulge and bathe in rest. We’ll talk more in a little bit as well as future episodes what exactly that means and there is already a few episodes if you are a new listener about rest. If you do want to go back and check them out.
I have an episode on the lie of productivity, I think there is one just called rest or something from the very beginning, I have one on intentional rest, and there is lots of other goodness, I mean it’s been 50 episodes y’all, can you believe it? A year. A year since making this podcast. Some of you know this, but I started this having no clue what I was doing. I’m not exaggerating, I listen to podcasts, but I had no idea what went into them, I googled everything.
I started to record in my closet, which by the way, was not fun. The door had to be closed by the end of recording I was dripping with sweat it was so hot in there and so tiny. The equipment I had wasn’t helpful, and so sometimes my computer would overheat, and I would have to start over, or it would cut out, the mic wasn’t good. And then I was editing everything myself which I’m no sound engineer or podcast editor, I had no idea what to do. That would take me hours, I mean I think one podcast episode would take me 8 hours to do.
Now a year later, 50 episodes later, I have a better mic, I can record in my office, I have a production team, it’s just unbelievable what humans can do in a year. I know many of you have heard this before, but we way overestimate what we can do in one day and way underestimate what we can do in a year.
In the year since I started this podcast and started my coaching business I actually left my full-time job and am now coaching full time, I moved in with my partner, we got engaged, the podcast now has a production team, I created a course. So much has happened. I’m now in a feminist coaching certification and deepening my business and growing my business and getting more clients. It’s just unbelievable how much can happen in a year when you want it to. When you have the tools. When you have the ability to reduce your stress, create more time and rest more.
And that was one of the principles I started this podcast with. Those of you who have been around the whole time know this. When I started doing this myself, and had to do everything myself, I would do I think 3 or 4 episodes then a week off to give myself rest. And I felt strongly about that. Not just for myself but to show you all and model it to you all how important rest is. And hiring a production team is a form of rest because it went from, gosh, eight or more hours a week of doing everything myself, to now maybe two, two and a half sometimes, even less sometimes.
So it’s just blowing my mind, I‘m so happy you’re all here. We’ve had 50 amazing episodes. If you’re new or you have just missed some, I encourage you to go back and check them out, there are some episodes on what are your thoughts and how to change them, processing emotions, indecision, how to make a decision, feeling pride, reducing stress at work, I mean there is just so much goodness in the past year on this podcast so make sure to check that out.
And moving forward I’m going to talk a little bit more in a second about the premise of redefining rest. The content’s not changing, it’s still amazing coaching work for public health professionals to reduce your stress, eliminate your burnout, and most importantly get more rest, it’s still that. We’re just amplifying the mission, we’re just turning it up a notch, we’re starting a revolution. And we want more people to hear about it and be able to come to us, and be a part of this community, and hear this message and get this help.
So I’m going to share more on that and on the rest revolution in one second, I also want to let you know, with this anniversary, with this exciting change, I am doing a really, really fun podcast giveaway. I have been teasing at this, I have been dying to tell y’all, and now I can. So excited. So three lucky winners are going to get the prizes are either a $150 gift card at a local spa, which come on, how many of you have been like “oh I need a massage” or “I’d love a facial” or even “I even just need a haircut.” Or get a pedicure, or whatever it may be, but you never book it.
You always tell yourself you don’t have the money. Not anymore. Win this giveaway and you’re going to get a gift card to a local spa, local business near you, where you will be able to enjoy and indulge in that and get some rest. A second lucky winner is going to get two books. One is Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily and Amelia Nagoski, which I’ve mentioned them on the podcast before. And then the other one is a book called Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang.
Hopefully I’m pronouncing that correctly and my apologies if I’m not. Both really great books, so one lucky winner is going to get both of those, either a paper copy if you like to read with a book in hand, or if you prefer listening to books on audio, you’ll get it on audio. So whatever you like, your preference. And then the third giveaway is with a partnership with the public health millennial, which some of you know, if you don’t check him out. Omari Richins has amazing public health apparel, has a sweatshirt that says health equity matters, we’re going to give that away in your size, so three lucky winners, three amazing prizes, I cannot wait to find out who gets them.
And let me just tell you briefly really quickly how you’re going to enter this. All of the expansive details on how to enter are on my website, we will leave a link in the show notes, but I want to give you a very, very brief overview.
First it is super, super easy to enter, I mean it will take less than two minutes. We wanted to do this in a way that was easiest for you, that was quick for you, and efficient. So go to the link in my show notes to the website, it will take you where you can either read the instructions or watch a video we recorded explaining it. Again, it’s super simple. Essentially the link will take you to where you can rate and review this podcast on Apple podcast, and when you do that, it will record your name and email and you’ll be entered into the giveaway.
And if you do that, that’s the first step, you get a certain chunk of points. And then, if you decide to share on LinkedIn or Facebook or Instagram or wherever else, you get additional points. So the people with the highest amount of points get the three prizes, and it’s super easy because all you do is enter the information in this program called UpViral, it tracks your points, you don’t have to track your points, you can share from that platform, you don’t have to switch platforms, you just click share from there. Super, super easy. But make sure you follow that link to UpViral and then do the rate and review from there, from that platform, so that you can be entered into the giveaway. I’ll keep reminding you all. I’ll have it all over social media, we’re going to announce the winners on an upcoming podcast episode, and of course if you are a winner I will email you, so you don’t miss a thing.
Make sure to enter to get a spa gift card, amazing books to help you get more rest and eliminate your burnout, an amazing sweatshirt about health equity matters, all of that. So excited. So with that, we’re going to head into the episode, and talk about the rest revolution.
Okay. Let’s get into what we’re going to talk about today and that is starting or actually really continuing the rest revolution in the public health workforce. So, the public health field itself, the workforce needs a revolution. Before COVID ever hit, staff were burnt out.
The burnout the field is experiencing right now isn’t caused by COVID, it’s just been exacerbated by it. Stress, overwhelm, exhaustion were all present in enormously high levels before the pandemic. And all of you listening who are in public health know this. You maybe were working nights and weekends before the pandemic and now it’s even worse. Teams were already understaffed, budgets were already too low and being cut. You all were being underpaid, and underappreciated, and overworked.
And when we think about a revolution we typically think about an overthrow, overthrow of a system, or a government, or an upheaval of the way things are done. And when I’m talking about revolutionizing the public health workforce to get more rest I’m talking about your personal revolution, the revolution of your mind, your experience, your decisions, overthrowing how you think about rest, how you practice it, how you experience it. Plays a completely new way of thinking, and practicing, and experiencing rest in your experience, in your life.
So, you can actually get more rest, not just once but consistently, not just temporarily but sustainably. Where rest is not finite but it’s infinite. Where rest isn’t given, it’s taken. Rest isn’t earned, it’s your right. For so long you all public health staff have been waiting for leadership, for government, for organizations to change so you can get more rest, so you can feel less stressed but it hasn’t happened.
And the revolution, the rest revolution is about no longer waiting for that day which that day may never come. And it’s about putting the control back in your hands, the power back in your sphere. Again, this isn’t about starting a riot. It’s not even about forcing or demanding leadership or organization’s change. You can do that if you want. But that’s not what this specific rest revolution is about. It’s about you changing because here’s the thing.
Even if your boss suddenly hired more staff and then took things off your plate to help you, you would still end up not resting and burning out. Because the structural supports only work to help you get more rest and feel less stressed if your internal supports align with that. Meaning when you believe deep down unconsciously that rest is earned and you don’t deserve it. Then even if you get support to have more time off you won’t take it. You won’t know what to do with it. You will reject it. You’ll find something else to do.
You’ll make the current work you have, take longer because you’ll be more distracted. Let’s take unlimited PTO as an example. Some of you may not know this but companies that have implemented unlimited paid time off as a means to support their staff have actually found their staff do not take advantage of it. And in fact, some of the estimates show that employees who have access to unlimited PTO take 13 days off a year ago which is two days less than employees who have accrued PTO take off a year. So why is that?
Why when you have access to unlimited PTO that you actually don’t use it and you don’t take more time off? And you actually take less time off than folks who have kind of the standard accrued. Because the employees have the same beliefs, the same underlying beliefs that rest is earned, rest is given, productivity makes you worthy. You have to hustle for your worth. So that act of changing the policy doesn’t really change the outcome because those employees still have these underlying beliefs. They don’t have the mindset to take advantage of that change.
And honestly, some of you all listening right now you have accrued PTO and in your kind of PTO vacation bank you have two, three, four weeks of vacation days just sitting there because you haven’t used them. And this is because you believe, you have an underlying belief that rest is earned and given, and you have to prove your worth. Or that if you take time off it’ll burden others, there isn’t a good time. You have too much work. All of those beliefs are what drive you to deny opportunities of rest, to continue to be stressed even when you have structural supports like paid time off.
What prevents you from taking rest is your mind. And that is where the revolution has to be in. You know what will change the public health field, the structures, the policies, the systems, the norms? If every public health staff person revolutionize their mind. And in fact, we don’t even need every single person. We just need a good chunk of people to revolutionize their minds because norms are set by people based on their minds, on their thoughts.
A norm is just a sign that a chunk of people, a certain number of people think the same thing and decide that’s the way it’s going to be. They take actions based on those thoughts. They set policies based on those thoughts. So, to change the norm people have to change. For people to change their beliefs have to change. Now, listen, this isn’t a dictatorship. You don’t have to change your beliefs or mindset. I’m not inviting you to join or follow this revolution blindly or without consent. It’s not about forcing you to change.
This is about you understanding, and learning, and exploring another way to feel better. This is about showing you how to get more rest, how to save time, how to get what you want. And teaching you how to do that by revolutionizing your mind and the way you think about rest, and productivity, and value, and worth. And then you in your full autonomy and empowerment get to decide what you want to do. You can totally keep doing the things the way you have been, and thinking the things you have, and having the same beliefs.
That’s 100% your right, you totally get to do that. And if you want to do it differently I’m going to teach you how because the only reason we take rest or deny ourselves opportunities of rest is because of our beliefs. Denying rest because of some conscious beliefs, beliefs that you know you think such as I have too much to do, I’ll burden others, I can’t, it’ll be too hard, I’ll just do it later. If I just figure out how to get more done then I’ll take rest or some variation of those thoughts.
And then under those unconscious beliefs that lie beneath those that tell us productivity feels good. I have to be productive to get what I want. I’m not good enough. I have to earn rest. I don’t deserve rest. Rest is only a certain set of activities. Rest costs money. If you believed without a doubt in your core, I can feel good no matter what I do or don’t get done. I can take a vacation whenever I need to. I know exactly what feels restful to me. If you have those beliefs then you would be resting.
You would be taking those opportunities to rest rather than denying them, without second guessing yourself, without doubting yourself, without worrying about what others think, without believing you’re going to get in trouble. Our ideas of what rest is and how we get it, and how we practice it are not our own. They are internalized from messages we get from all around us, from family, and friends, and media, religion, news, social media, marketing companies, from systems of oppression including white supremacy, and the patriarchy, and toxic capitalism.
And we get all these messages and we internalize them and they drive our decisions and actions. To make different decisions to take different actions you need to have a different belief system about rest. You need to redefine rest for you. Rest is personal and unique to you. What it is for you is different for someone else. It’s flowing and not static. What rest might be for you now might not be what rest is for you in two years.
Deciding what you want to believe about rest, how you want to define it and giving yourself permission to change your beliefs starts with examining your current thoughts and belief system, your current thought patterns. Why you have them, how they’re impacting your life. And then you can change them if you want to. And that’s what we’re going to keep doing here on this podcast. And I know this work is lifechanging because it literally changed my life. I went from checking emails on nights and weekends to the point of tears often, not taking vacation, to only checking emails once or twice a day.
My first vacation which was a three week international vacation, I think it was my first actual vacation in several years. I have more time than ever before, I have more peace and rest than ever before. I don’t have any work stress and I didn’t even when I was still working full-time and starting my business on the side. And here’s the other thing. I know for sure I can 100% guarantee I will never be burnt out in a job because I know that burnout is an outcome of the way you think, not your organization, not your boss, not your salary.
Burnout is an outcome of your beliefs, the beliefs you have that drive you to deny yourself rest and overwork, the beliefs you have that drive you to chase productivity rather than doing things that give you joy, and replenishment, and rest. And because I have the skills and tools to manage my mind, decide on purpose what I want to believe, create thought patterns that drive actions, that get me the results I want I know 100% I will never be burnt out again. And all of you listening, you can get that too.
Because the treatment for burnout is rest. The prevention for burnout is rest, sustainable, consistent, infinite rest. And it all starts with a rested mind, a confident mind, an empowered mind. Once you do this work of redefining rest for you and changing your beliefs about productivity and rest you’ll reduce your workload without your boss having to hire more staff or quitting your job. You’ll increase your time. You’ll increase your rest and you’ll feel fucking better.
Isn’t that what you want, to not be stressed, to feel good, and energized, and happy about your life, and fulfilled, and excited about it? So, are you ready to come with me on this revolution? Here are some of the episodes coming up to look forward to that I can’t wait to share with you, that will help you revolutionize the way you think about rest and redefine rest because that’s what we’re doing here.
We’re going to talk about toxic productivity culture, the patriarchy in public health. Solving for busyness. The live work life balance and so, so much more. So, make sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, rate and review so others can find this. And together we can revolutionize the field of public health.
Alright y’all before we go. Do not forget to enter the giveaway. To either get a $150 gift card to a local spa, to treat yourself, to finally give yourself that time to be pampered, and to relax, whatever treatment you want. Or to get the books Burnout, and Rest. I mean, what more do you want? Eliminate your burnout, get more rest, perfect combination. Or the health equity matters sweatshirt. You can rep it around your city, around your town, say it loud and clear so everyone can see that health equity does matter. Amazing sweatshirt from the public health millennial Omari Richins. So make sure you enter. The link and simple instructions for how to do that are in the show notes. Check it out, and I’ll see you all next week. Bye everyone.
If you found this episode helpful then you have to check out my coaching program where I provide you individualized support to create a life centered around rest. Head on over to mckoolcoaching.com, that’s M-C-K-O-O-L coaching.com to learn more.
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