Why Rest Matters: A Mid-Year Reminder for Women Professionals

VEST supports women professionals in building careers that make room for rest, clarity, and growth.

We’re halfway through the year, and for many women professionals, the pace hasn’t let up. The first six months were filled with deadlines, decisions, and the unspoken pressure to be everything to everyone, at work, at home, in our communities.

July offers a natural pause. A slower month. But even when we feel the need to step back, many of us don’t. Instead, we push through, driven by guilt, by expectations, or by the fear of falling behind.

Why So Many Women Struggle to Rest

If you’ve been taught that your value is tied to output or that rest must be earned, you’re not alone. Women are often rewarded for being dependable and available, not for setting boundaries or prioritizing themselves. This conditioning makes it hard to disconnect, even when we’re running on empty.

We tell ourselves we’ll rest after the next project, after the next obligation, once things calm down. But things rarely do.

The Cost of Skipping Rest

Without space to recharge, we lose clarity. We disconnect from our purpose. We stop being intentional, and start reacting. The burnout builds quietly, until it doesn’t.

Rest gives us room to reset. It allows us to:

• Make better decisions

• Reconnect with what matters

• Recognize what’s no longer working

• Build stamina for long-term impact

  
  

Rest isn’t a break from leadership, it’s part of it.

The Link Between Perfectionism, People-Pleasing, and Burnout

This month at VEST, we’re talking about perfectionism and the pressure to be liked. These patterns often keep women overcommitted and under-resourced. They keep us in motion, performing, accommodating, proving, when what we really need is to pause and reassess.

It’s not that we don’t recognize the need for rest. It’s that, too often, we feel guilty taking it.

Looking for Support?

If you’re navigating your career, burnout, or simply looking for a supportive community for women, we want you to know that help exists, and you don’t have to go it alone. VEST is a community for women leaders, doers, and changemakers. We offer career support, mentorship, and space for meaningful conversations about leadership, self-worth, and growth.

Join our community today and connect with others who are redefining what success looks like with rest, not just hustle, at the center. Learn more and apply here.

About the Author

Erika Lucas is the Founder and CEO of StitchCrew and VEST. She is an investor and nationally recognized advocate for women, small businesses, and economic opportunity for all. Erika also hosts the VEST Her Podcast, where she talks about the hidden challenges holding women back at work, in society, and in building wealth—and highlights stories of women working to change that. Follow Erika’s on LinkedIn