The Summer Reset: Rethinking the Way We Recharge
When Did Rest Become Something We Have to Earn?
In a culture that often equates being busy with being productive, rest can easily become something we postpone until everything else is finished. The problem is that work is rarely truly “finished.” There is always another email to answer, another meeting to prepare for, or task waiting for our attention.
Yet recovery is not the opposite of performance. It is part of what makes performance sustainable.
Research increasingly supports this. A 2025 meta-analysis examining vacations and employee wellbeing found that time away from work can have meaningful positive effects on wellbeing, particularly when people are able to psychologically detach from work and engage in genuinely restorative activities.[1]
Summer therefore offers more than an opportunity to take a holiday. It can be a useful reminder to reconsider our relationship with rest itself.
Our Mind Need Space to Recover
Constant meetings, deadlines, notifications, and decision-making create an ongoing demand for our attention. Even when the working day ends, many of us remain mentally connected to work; checking messages, replaying conversations, or thinking about what needs to happen tomorrow.
This is why simply being away from the office does not always mean we are recovering.
Research involving more than 38,000 employees found that greater psychological detachment from work was associated with lower exhaustion and fatigue, better sleep and wellbeing, and positive links with task performance.[2]
Creating that distance does not always require a two-week holiday. It might mean an afternoon without notifications, protecting the end of the working day, taking a proper lunch break, going for a walk, or deliberately choosing not to open the laptop over the weekend.
Even small pauses can matter. A systematic review and meta-analysis of workplace micro-breaks found that short breaks can help increase feelings of energy and reduce fatigue during the working day.[3]
The key is not simply to stop working, but to give ourselves permission to mentally step away from it.
Better Recovery Can Support Better Leadership
For leaders, recovery is not only a personal wellbeing issue. How we manage our own energy can influence how we show up for other people.
When we are depleted, patience can become shorter. Listening can become more difficult. Minor frustrations can trigger stronger reactions, and complex decisions can feel heavier than they normally would.
It is also of no surprise that research has linked sleep deprivation in leaders with changes in how effectively they communicate and inspire others.[4] It is a useful reminder that leadership does not operate separately from our physical and emotional capacity.
A well-rested leader is not automatically a better leader, of course. But creating space for recovery makes it easier to remain present, regulate reactions, think clearly, and engage thoughtfully with others.
Perhaps equally importantly, leaders also model what is considered acceptable within their teams. If leaders constantly work through holidays, answer emails late at night, or celebrate exhaustion as commitment, employees may receive the message that rest is something to feel guilty about.
Sustainable performance begins when recovery is treated as responsible behaviour rather than a lack of ambition.
There Is No Single Right Way to Recharge
Rest is deeply personal.
For one person, recovery might mean travelling and experiencing somewhere completely new. For another, it could mean staying home, reading a good book, spending time with family, exercising, being outdoors, cooking, or simply having an unscheduled day.
What matters is whether the activity genuinely restores us.
Research on recovery from work often highlights several experiences that can support this process: psychologically detaching from work, relaxing, having control over our free time, and engaging in activities that give us a sense of learning or accomplishment.[5]
This also means that rest does not always need to look passive. In the long run, learning something new, gardening, playing a sport, or spending time with people we care about may feel far more restorative than spending an entire afternoon scrolling through our phones.
A useful question is simply:
What actually gives me energy back?
Use the Pause to Reflect
Summer can also provide something that busy schedules rarely allow enough of: perspective.
When we create some distance from our typical routines, we have an opportunity to notice what has become automatic.
What is working well?
What is consuming more energy than it should?
Which boundaries have gradually disappeared?
What are we continuing to do simply because we have always done it that way?
The World Health Organization describes burnout as an occupational phenomenon resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed, characterised by exhaustion, increasing mental distance or cynicism toward work, and reduced professional efficacy.[6]
This is an important reminder that recovery should not only happen when we have already reached exhaustion.
Taking time to pause earlier allows us to notice what might need to change before depletion becomes our normal way of working.
The Real Reset Happens When We Return
The value of a summer break is not measured only by how rested we feel on our first day back.
The more important question may be: What will we do differently because we took the time to pause?
Perhaps it means protecting boundaries more consistently. Creating uninterrupted time to think. Taking proper breaks rather than eating lunch at a desk. Delegating more effectively. Being more selective about meetings. Spending less time responding immediately and more time deciding thoughtfully.
For leaders, it may also mean examining the culture they are creating for others. Are people genuinely able to disconnect? Is taking annual leave encouraged in practice, not just in policy? Do team members feel that rest is acceptable, or do they return from holiday to an impossible backlog?
A reset becomes meaningful when reflection translates into small changes that can survive once the pace picks up again.
Recharge Without the Guilt
Rest should not need to be earned through exhaustion.
Ambition and recovery are not competing ideas. We can care deeply about our work, pursue meaningful goals, and maintain high standards while recognising that human energy is not unlimited.
At FELIZ Consulting, we believe sustainable performance requires more than knowing how to push forward. It also requires knowing when to pause, reflect, and recover.
So, this summer, perhaps the goal is not simply to come back refreshed.
It is to return with a clearer understanding of how we want to work, how we want to lead, and what we need in order to keep doing both well.
Sometimes moving forward starts by giving ourselves permission to stop.
References
[1] Grant, A. M., et al. (2025). I Need a Vacation: A Meta-Analysis of Vacation and Employee Well-Being. Journal of Applied Psychology.
[2] Wendsche, J., & Lohmann-Haislah, A. (2017). A Meta-Analysis on Antecedents and Outcomes of Detachment From Work. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 2072.
[3] Albulescu, P., Macsinga, I., Rusu, A., Sulea, C., Bodnaru, A., & Tulbure, B. T. (2022). “Give Me a Break!” A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis on the Efficacy of Micro-Breaks for Increasing Well-Being and Performance. PLOS ONE, 17(8).
[4] Barnes, C. M., Guarana, C. L., Nauman, S., & Kong, D. T. (2016). Too Tired to Inspire or Be Inspired: Sleep Deprivation and Charismatic Leadership. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101(8).
[5] Hahn, V. C., Binnewies, C., Sonnentag, S., & Mojza, E. J. (2011). Learning How to Recover From Job Stress: Effects of a Recovery Training Program on Recovery, Recovery-Related Self-Efficacy, and Well-Being. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 16(2).
[6] World Health Organization. Burn-out as an Occupational Phenomenon: International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11).