Why Rest Can Feel Unsafe

"This belief mirrors broader American values that prioritize productivity, efficiency, and achievement. We learn that pushing through exhaustion is framed as sacrifice, and therefore as virtue. Productivity becomes proof of usefulness, achievement brings external validation, and validation becomes the measure of success. Over time, this turns into a powerful positive reinforcement loop. Within that framework, pausing feels unnatural: a loss of productivity, a loss of validation, and the looming fear of falling behind or failing."

"For many high-functioning, high-achieving individuals, like physicians, rest doesn't feel restorative. It feels uncomfortable. Anxiety-provoking. Even wrong. I see this over and over again in my coaching clients, in colleagues, and in myself. Doctors will tell me they're exhausted, burned out, and desperate for a break. Yet when they finally get administrative time or time off, it often brings guilt, restlessness, or a sense of unease rather than relief."

High-functioning physicians often experience rest as uncomfortable, anxiety-provoking, and wrong, leading time off to produce guilt, restlessness, or unease instead of relief. The nervous system adapts to a culture that equates usefulness with productivity, internalizing American values of efficiency and achievement. Repeated reinforcement frames pushing through exhaustion as virtue, linking productivity to external validation and success. Conditioning rewires the nervous system to associate constant motion with safety, maintaining a chronic fight-or-flight state in demanding clinical environments. Identity fusion further cements achievement as personal identity, so slowing down removes structure and perceived control, triggering anxiety, guilt, or emptiness.

Read at Psychology Today