Running on empty isn’t a badge of devotion. Even Jesus left the crowd to rest.

Exhaustion gets worn as evidence of commitment, especially by people doing genuinely good work. There is nothing holy about running yourself into the ground, and the tiredness usually makes you worse at the very thing you were sacrificing for. Rest is not a reward for finishing. It is part of how the work stays possible at all.

Put one block of nothing in your week and defend it like an appointment. No output, no catching up, no guilt about what is undone. If stopping makes you anxious, that is worth knowing, and it is a better reason to rest than any argument about productivity.