Rest and Self-Care 101: Meeting Your Needs and Being Your Best Self…Even When You’re a Workaholic

We’ve all heard it before: 7-8 hours of sleep a night is important for our health and well-being. So is rest, self-care, and eating balanced, nutritious meals, but when my to-do list is a mile long, and it seems like each time I check off one thing, I add two more, well cuts have to be made somewhere. There are, afterall, only 24 hours in a day. And all too often it’s the sleep, rest, and self-care that are first on the chopping block. When cuts need to be made, they’re the easiest to rationalize—a little less sleep here or there can’t matter that much, right? But it all adds up, often much quicker than we’d like, and we’re left feeling exhausted, burned out, and somehow even less productive (as it turns out, at a certain point, working more doesn’t translate to getting more work done). While good old-fashioned hard work is critical to success—and you won’t be able to bring your dreams to life without it—you must also take care of yourself.