🔪 Part of the series: Creative Subtraction
Where Health Actually Begins—Letting Go of the Life That Drains YouPost [1] of 7
This series explores the real reason so many health journeys stall:Vitality doesn’t begin with diet or discipline. It begins with subtraction.
Not the chase to do more—but the bold, tender choice to stop carrying what’s been silently breaking you.
This is where your body starts to soften.This is where your healing begins.
I took an entire week off. And it was the best thing I did. I feel amazing and refreshed.
I’ll be doing this more often—and as often as I need.
As Naval Ravikant says:
Instead of grinding without pause, adopt a cycle of
prepare → sprint → rest → repeat.
Channel your efforts into the tasks that truly matter. Once you’ve completed a sprint, celebrate, recover, and gather energy for the next one.
It feels weird at first. My body was saying, “Hey Helena, time for some quiet. Time to do nothing. Time for no planning. Time to focus on rest.”
I’m still learning this, believe it or not.It’s hard to listen to your body when it whispers what it needs.
You resist until the cows come home.
You judge yourself for not being ‘productive.’
You try to sit down and do it—but you can’t. NOTHING comes of it.It feels shitty and frustrating.
It’s like trying to stop a dam from flowing with your hands. Ha!
The whisper isn’t that quiet.You feel it as what people call “procrastination.”
Your mind wants to run the show.It reminds you of the momentum you had going and screams:“If you stop now, the world will end. Your career and life are over!”
That happened a week ago. I couldn’t get myself to do anything.Felt bad for a few hours...Then became stunningly aware that my body was pleading for time off.
And I wasn’t listening—because of the societal brainwashing.
...Then I gave in.
Aaaaaaaaah.
Such a good feeling to go with the flow of life and your body.This is our responsibility.
To rest is to be responsible for creating a good life for yourself.
Some dude—or some group of dudes and dudettes—once ingrained in all of us that if you’re not producing, you’re NO GOOD.
They repeated it.Over and over again.Until it became a wiring pattern in our brains.
If you are not doing some kind of action,
YOU SUCK
Doesn’t matter what it is.Doesn’t matter if it brings you joy.Doesn’t matter if it’s internal seed-planting time.
If you're just sitting there, you must be lazy. Unworthy.
Scratch that bullshit brain wiring, stat.
Put a freaking dent in it.Make your brain cells work for you—not against you.
Stop yourself in your tracks.All that relentless doing, relentless productivity, relentless “let me look like I’m doing something” crap—just so other people will think you’re successful?
ENOUGH.
Success is joy
I heard a quote by Deepak Chopra today that rang every bell:
“Success is not a successful exit. Success is joy.
And if you don’t have joy, you are wasting your life.”
You can’t have joy if you don’t know what you want or who you are.And for that, you must have rest. And quiet. Daily.
You can’t have joy if you’re always chasing the carrot other people dangle.
You’ll wake up one day miserable—having lost so much time.
And let’s not forget:You will never achieve the vitality and healthspan you’re looking for if you skip this.
This isn’t optional. It’s biochemical.
You can’t have joy if you don’t let yourself be.If you fear rest.If you only feel worthy when you're producing.
And finally—You cannot have joy if you’re afraid to trust yourself.If you won’t listen to your body.
So tell me:
What has your body been telling you lately that you’re pretending not to hear—just so you can keep your mask of productivity alive?