What if exhaustion is not proof of your commitment?
For most of my life, I believed that moving forward meant working harder, carrying more, and never stopping. I started working at thirteen. I learned to survive, prove I belonged, and keep going, even when I had very little left to give.
Those habits helped me build a life I once could only imagine. But they also taught me something I am still learning to unlearn: the belief that I must exhaust myself to deserve the life I have built.
My 3.5-month sabbatical, made possible by Latino Community Foundation’s Rest Is Power program, gave me the space to pause, reflect, and see my life from a different distance. I am deeply grateful to have been selected and to have experienced what becomes possible when we give ourselves permission to step away.
I returned with fewer answers than questions, but one question keeps guiding me:
Not just What can I accomplish? But how do I want to live?
I call this A Sabbatical Mind. It is not about stepping away from responsibility or ambition. It is about questioning the beliefs that keep us running: that rest must be earned, that being needed makes us valuable, that slowing down means falling behind.
What if rest is not a reward for finishing everything? What if it were part of being human?
I am learning to practice this through four simple words: REST.
- Release the need to prove I can do it all. Not every responsibility is mine to carry.
- Enjoy the life that is already here. A meal, a conversation, a quiet morning. Not everything needs to be productive to be meaningful.
- Slow down enough to hear myself think, notice what matters, and choose rather than react.
- Trust myself enough to step back, and others enough to let them lead.
That last lesson has been especially meaningful at Prospera. My sabbatical did not teach me to believe in collective leadership; it confirmed what our team has been building together. While I was away, my colleagues continued to lead, make decisions, and move our work forward.
A sabbatical benefits not only the person who leaves, but also the people who stay. It creates room for others to lead and reminds us that an organization’s strength should never depend on one person.
I am still learning. The old habits return, and the world has not slowed down. But I am learning that changing how we live begins with questioning what we have always believed.
So, I invite you to ask yourself:
- Who taught you that being exhausted means you’re doing a good job?
- When did rest become something we had to earn?
- What are you waiting for to enjoy the life you’ve worked so hard to build?
I think about this a lot when I think about the women of Prospera. We talk about building businesses, creating economic opportunity, and becoming financially independent. And yes, all of that matters. But for what? So that women can have choices. So they can spend time with their children. So that their measure of success also includes rest, without guilt.
A sabbatical mind is not another way to become more productive. It is an invitation to be present, to share power, and to remember that our lives are happening now, not only in the future we are working so hard to reach.
Release. Enjoy. Slow down. Trust.
That is where my sabbatical mind begins. Where might yours begin?
Claudia Arroyo, Executive Director