A Month of Fridays: The Mic Drop Moment That Changed Me

For most of my life, I've worn my work ethic like a badge of honor. Responsible. Reliable. The go-to person. I've been the one who answers the email at 10 p.m., who says yes when I should say rest, who works just a little harder, longer, faster — because that's who I believed I had to be. I thrive on it. Work is where most of my self-satisfaction and self-confidence has come from.

And for the longest time, I've thought all of that was strength.

But here's the mic drop moment: My strengths were also, in a manner of speaking, my weaknesses.

The same drive that helped me build, create, and show up... was also slowly draining me. I realized that constantly pushing, overcommitting, and never taking real time off was affecting my health, my relationships, and most of all — my connection to myself.

So, I did something that felt radical to my high-achieving self.

I gave myself a month of Fridays.

Thanks to Juneteenth and the Fourth of July, I already had a couple of bonus days off built in. Instead of filling my time with work, I decided to actually unplug. Fully. No emails. No work. No worrying. Just... being.

Holy. Shit.

It was wildly uncomfortable at first. I felt the itch to check in, to prove my productivity, and not to let anything fall through the cracks. But then, something shifted.

I exhaled.

I recharged.

I remembered who I am when I'm not "on."

These Fridays became a quiet rebellion. A reset. A realignment. And it has been AMAZING.

I'm learning that balance doesn't mean doing it all — it means doing what serves me, too. And sometimes, that means doing nothing at all. Rest is not a reward for burnout. It's a right. A rhythm. A reclaiming. I can still be that reliable, hardworking person, but I can also set boundaries to maintain balance. I am in charge of myself, and the only person I have to prove anything to is myself. I still like to work hard. But I can now recognize when I need to pull back and how good it is for my soul to give myself a break.

So here's your permission slip (and mine):

Take the Fridays.

Take back your time.

Because you don't have to earn your rest.

You just have to honor it.