In partnership with

The Daily Newsletter for Intellectually Curious Readers

Join over 4 million Americans who start their day with 1440 – your daily digest for unbiased, fact-centric news. From politics to sports, we cover it all by analyzing over 100 sources. Our concise, 5-minute read lands in your inbox each morning at no cost. Experience news without the noise; let 1440 help you make up your own mind. Sign up now and invite your friends and family to be part of the informed.

Join for free today!

Hi fam! We’re happy you’re here* Let’s dive into the latest in workplace mental health, resources, and relatable stories for the burnt out and languishing.

here* is what we’ve got this week:

• Get sound mental health advice from Charlamagne tha God (and other good stuff from the New York Times Well Festival) 🧠 

• Try 7 research-backed ways to prioritize when it’s all too damn much 📓 

• Explore the concept of illusionary rest and figure out if it’s causing you more harm than good 😴 

Mental health and work are ever-evolving (it’s exhausting). here* is the latest.

• 🌳 Charlamagne tha God took stage at the New York Times’s Well Festival. And he wants you to touch grass more. (NYT)

• 👎️ According to a recent poll, Americans are putting major life decisions on hold amid anxiety and uncertainty under Trump admin (The Guardian)

• 🙄 Mark Zuckerberg believes AI and the Metaverse will cure loneliness. Experts (quite obviously) disagree. (The Economic Times)

There are only 24 hours in the day. here* are your weekly wellness shortcuts.

• 📓 Here are 7 straightforward ways to prioritize when it’s all too damn much (Wondermind)

• 🎤 Bored with your typical guided meditation app? Try listening to these songs about mindfulness and mental health (Yahoo)

• 🍷 Feel anxious after drinking? Try these 5 things to manage hangxiety. (here*)

Things we’re loving atm.

• 🌲 With the weather turning, we are turning to the nature meditation cards that get us outside and out of our heads

• ⛺️ The rise of digital detox retreats. One of our fave spots are the Postcard Cabins in Southern IN. You can find cabin locations throughout the US.

• ☕️ A cup of coffee and a yap sesh on a cold weekend morning.

The illusion of rest is easy to fall for.

It’s easy to believe that when we’re not actively working or parenting or lifing that we are indeed in recovery mode.

We slam the laptop shut and scroll through social media feeds that we won’t remember. We assume a day will be “quiet” when no one booked a meeting. We stretch out on the couch, physically relaxing but still replaying the conversation that didn’t go as planned. We step outside, earbuds in, podcast on 1.5x speed.

And these moments feel like rest because we are often alone, not working or performing. But even though these moments may be a form of rest, they’re not quite the recovering kind.

The body stays tense. The mind stays on and active. The system never fully downgrades.

And over time, we acclimate to this low-level hum of activity. Not in fight-or-flight, but never fully settled. Focus takes longer. Frustration comes on faster. Sleep helps, but not enough.

This is what it feels like to be in maintenance mode. You’re not crashing, but you’re not clear. You’re functioning, but with less capacity. You get through the week, but nothing ever truly resets.

👀 What to look out for:

here* are some behaviors to look out for that may indicate you’re not fulling recovering in your downtime.

• You scroll Instagram for half an hour and call it “unwinding.” (guilty)

• You text a friend about how tired you are instead of resting. (guilty, probably text my mom, too)

• You open LinkedIn “just to check something,” then spend 20 minutes comparing yourself to people you barely know. (guilty as charged 🙋 )

• You check your phone out of habit, not interest. (more than I’d care to admit)

• You think the show in the background is relaxing even though you’ve missed half the plot on the last 4 episodes (I have Ted Lasso on as we speak)

🤔 What to do with that:

So what can you do? Start by noticing what doesn’t restore you, even if it looks like rest. Then start making space for what actually does.

• Schedule time that serves no purpose. Let it stay that way.

• Move without multitasking. Walk without listening. Sit without scrolling.

• Finish one thing. Then pause. Let your system come back online before starting the next.

• Pay attention to how you feel after the thing—not during it.

We aren’t trying a new habit stack. We’re looking for ways to subtract what doesn’t help and noticing what does because your nervous system can’t reset in motion. It needs space. Stillness. Sometimes even boredom.

If you missed it last week, our Bare Minimum Mental Health Challenge could be a good place to start. 💚 

That’s all for this week.

We’ll be back in your inbox next Monday. Until then, we’d love to hear from you. Let us know what content you liked or what you’d like to see more of in the next issue. You can always reply to this email for a response from me!

<3

here* fam