I'm gearing up for a much-needed break. Y'all know I've long been an advocate for rest and healing and all that jazz—I've been inundating your inbox about it over the last two years. Orchestrating vacation time can be a challenge, so I'm feeling grateful that I'm going to be taking the next week to unplug. I might go on a hike or two. I might check out some of these Juneteenth festivities in the roundup. You might catch me at one of the events Alaina told you about with yesterday's newsletter. But I might do very little at all. I'm looking forward to the silence, the stillness, and the downtime more than anything else.
But I'm also pondering: it really is unfortunate that we exist in a society where rest is something we have to fight for. Sure, I value hard work as much as the next person, but I think we've gotten too extreme with how much and how hard we work. Our plates are full, our calendars are bursting, our responsibilities are overwhelming, our notifications are endless, and for many of us, the financial and emotional currencies aren't always there for us to help us navigate life's hurdles. So I hope my melanated readers can find some time for themselves this weekend, and I hope all of you continue to ponder what it means to work hard and what it means to rest. Those two can be more yin and yang than they have been, and I hope you can find that in your life. It's not easy, though.
I'll see y'all next week! Stay cool out there while I'm gone.
