We’ve all felt it.

The overburdened overwork of a life gone mad. The week where everything and the cat got away from you, and all the kids and all the work and all the papers went out the window screaming and crying and huffing and puffing and making you blue in the face with the force of it all.

We’ve all been there.

When you think you’re the only one in the world with a burden so heavy, with a mind so full, with a binder of to-do lists that you made just last week alone that will never, never, ever get done in this lifetime.

Is it time to pack it all in?

No. Not a chance. Because there are so many good things in all that mess, in all those lists, in all that dirty splendor.

Instead, it’s time to rest.

It’s time to lay down your weary bones on the best chaise lounge for the soul you can find. In a bright patch of sun with flowers and peace and nary a crying baby in sight.

(Yes, even you can find a moment without one.)

It’s time to remember who you are and why you are and what you aim to be in this world when the world isn’t beating down your down to do ONE MORE THING.

It’s time to be you. In the silence.

So do it. Give yourself the moment, the hour, the — goodness gracious! — day you need.

(If you can find it, somehow, somewhere.)

Because, deep down, we all know that when you don’t give your body the rest you need, you deliver a blow to your soul that you’ll have a hard time clawing your way back from. Be aware. Be careful. And make sure to get the healthy rest you need.