The Secret to Writing Your Best Work: Rest

This week, we’re talking about something our culture often dismisses but your writing life desperately needs: rest. In this episode, I’ll share why rest matters, how you can create more of it—even when life feels full—and the surprising lessons I learned during my own summer break. Grab your pen and notebook and get ready to explore the radical power of doing less.

Episode Highlights

• 1:26: Why I Decided to Take a Month Off
• 5:30: Connecting with Your Inner Compass
• 10:23: The 3 S’s of Rest 
• 15:23: Why Doing Less Can Lead to More 
• 18:15: My Biggest Takeaways
• 21:44 Three Ways to Capture Your Best Ideas 

Resources for this Episode: 

• Learn about Marie Forleo
• Tips for Improving Your Sleep Hygiene
• Julia Cameron on the Benefit of Morning Pages 
• Do You Need a Rest Before You Rest by Tia Levings

Connect with your host, Lisa:
Get Your Free Copy of Ditch Your Inner Critic: https://lisacooperellison.com/subscribe/
Website | Instagram | YouTube | Facebook | LinkedIn

Produced by Espresso Podcast Production

Transcript

Writing Your Resilience Podcast Episode 87

The Secret to Writing Your Best Work: Rest with Lisa Cooper Ellison

Welcome back to Writing Your Resilience, the podcast for writers who want to write—and live—the story that sets them free. I’m your host, Lisa Cooper Ellison, and today we’re talking about something our culture often dismisses but your writing life desperately needs: rest.

I used to think rest was a luxury—something for people like Marie Forleo or Brené Brown, not for me. But over the last few years, I’ve learned that rest isn’t indulgent. It’s essential for your creativity, your nervous system, and your ability to hear that still, small voice guiding your work.

In this episode, I’ll share why rest matters, how you can create more of it—even when life feels full—and the surprising lessons I learned during my own summer break. 

Grab your pen and notebook and get ready to explore the radical power of doing less.

Lisa Cooper Ellison [01:08]
 
 

Why hello, everyone. Welcome to this week's episode of the Writing Your Resilience podcast. I am so glad you're here with me today.

We’re going to talk about an incredibly important—but often dismissed—aspect of your writing life, and that is rest. Throughout our conversation today, I’m going to cover three things:

1. Why rest is important for you.
2. How you can get more rest.
3. The surprising thing I learned about myself during my summer break—a period when I intentionally gave myself rest.

So, I’m going to begin with a very short story.

Lisa Cooper Ellison [03:02]
Five years ago, I started following Marie Forleo. If you don’t know who Marie Forleo is, she’s a motivational speaker with a multi-million-dollar business. She offers classes like B-School, which teaches people how to become entrepreneurs. She also has MarieTV, a podcast where she interviews fascinating people, and she does it all incredibly well.

I’ve learned so much from Marie. I even subscribed to her newsletter and regularly received tips and insights for entrepreneurs. Then one day in May of—I think it was 2020, though it may have been 2021—I got an email from her with the subject line: “Out of the Office.”

In the email, she explained that her entire company was taking the month of July off.

I stopped and thought, Oh my gosh. How is she able to do this? I also thought, this is something I want for my own company.

But the minute I started imagining it, the “shoulds” crept in:

• You should be available to all your clients.
• How will you make enough money?
• Do you really deserve this?
• You’re not Marie Forleo.

All these thoughts flooded in, making me feel like, sure, it’s great for Marie—but not for me.

Lisa Cooper Ellison [05:00]
Even though I knew the benefits—not just intellectually, but from experience.

I used to be a public-school teacher, and when I taught, I had summers off. If you know a public-school teacher, you know we don’t get all of summer off, but I had a good chunk of time to slow down, rest, and just be. It was so nourishing, and I’ve missed that rhythm deeply.

I thought I’d never get it back because of all the “shoulds.”

Then in early 2023, I saw another signal. I follow Brené Brown and have been fortunate to learn directly from her—I took her six-month Daring Greatly course back in 2015. In her newsletter, she shared that she, too, was taking time off.

It felt like the universe was speaking directly to me: Consider this.

So, I thought, even though I’m not Brené Brown or Marie Forleo with their multi-million-dollar businesses, maybe I could give myself the gift of time off.

I created a plan to make it happen—but let me tell you, that plan started with a ton of hard work. I tried to cram everything into the first six months of the year so I could take June off, plan in August, and “make up” for what felt like lost time.

That meant working seven days a week, sometimes for weeks on end. I don’t recommend this to anyone—but I want to be honest about how I made the time.

Lisa Cooper Ellison [05:10]
So in 2023, even though I was terrified, I did it.

I set my out-of-office message, told all my clients I was taking a sabbatical, and stepped away until August. It was hard—but so rejuvenating.

I decided to do it again in 2024. And again in 2025.

Lisa Cooper Ellison [05:34]
Why did I keep doing this?

Because I want to walk my talk. I talk to people all the time about rest, about taking breaks, about listening to your inner voice. If I’m not practicing it myself, how can I encourage you to?

Your inner compass—that still, small voice—is the best guide for both life and writing. But here’s the truth: you can only hear it when you allow stillness.

If you’re always doing, doing, doing, you never pause long enough to hear what needs to change. That means you keep repeating the same patterns—even the ones that no longer serve you.

Stillness also helps you hear new ideas and see new connections between them.

Now, I know not everyone can take a whole month off. Your schedule or responsibilities might not allow for it, and that’s okay. I’ve got you covered.

In this episode, I’ll share specific strategies for incorporating more stillness and rest into your life and writing practice.

But first, let me tell you what happened this year during my break.

Lisa Cooper Ellison [09:40]
The first two breaks were wonderful. I had plans: hot yoga multiple times a week, solo trips to the beach, a spiritual practice, and a writing retreat.

It all began with a trip to Virginia Beach with my husband over the July 4th holiday. We had an amazing time. On our last day, I performed a little ceremony, letting go of my fears into the ocean. Afterwards, we grabbed coffee and ice cream and decided, Let’s take one more dip.

Well, it was high tide, and the waves were coming fast and furiously. But we love that—it’s fun to jump the waves.

This time, though, a massive wave hit us hard. As I stood up, another wave slammed into me, twisting my body one way and my leg the other.

I felt a pop.

If you’ve ever felt a pop in your body, you know—it’s not good. I’d partially ruptured my MCL and tore my meniscus and ACL.

All my plans went out the window. Instead of yoga and retreats, I spent my break in a recliner, leg elevated, icing my knee, and hobbling around the house.

Lisa Cooper Ellison [10:00]
At first, it was devastating. This wasn’t how I wanted to spend my break.

And yet—it was exactly what I needed.

I needed radical stillness. My whole body needed to stop so it could recover from years of pushing hard. And I needed the stillness to listen to my inner voice and reflect on everything I’d been doing.

Lisa Cooper Ellison [10:15]
I’ll share what I learned in a moment, but first, let’s talk about how you can incorporate more rest into your life.

Think of the three S’s of rest:

1. Sleep
2. Stillness
3. Spaciousness

Let’s start with sleep.

Lisa Cooper Ellison [10:42]
Sleep can be frustrating—especially for women of a certain age. You wake up, can’t get back to sleep, and the stress builds. I’ve been there.

Right now, I’m fortunate to sleep well, but for years I had highly dysregulated sleep. The simplest thing you can do is this: turn off your alarm clock.

I know, some of you can only do this on weekends—but when you can, try it. Give your body the chance to sleep until it’s truly rested.

Most of us need 7–9 hours. By turning off the alarm, you’ll learn what your body naturally needs. For me, it’s about 7½ to 8 hours—and when I hit that sweet spot, I feel amazing.

Good sleep often starts with good sleep hygiene: going to bed at a reasonable hour, creating restful routines, and managing your energy. Once you regulate your sleep, something magical happens—you’ll wake up naturally, feeling restored.

I’ll include some links in the show notes with more tips and resources.

Then there’s stillness.

Stillness runs counter to everything our culture teaches us—especially as writers. We’re told to:

• Hit daily word counts.
• Build platforms.
• Engage audiences.
• Do, do, do.

But stillness is where creativity—and healing—begin.

Lisa Cooper Ellison [13:21]
If you don’t have any stillness in your life, you’re not going to be able to hear that still, small voice.

So, I’m going to give you a very easy exercise—one I’ve given to many of my clients—to promote stillness:

Just sit for one minute.

Set a timer and stare at a wall. If you can tolerate one minute, increase it to five. You can keep your eyes open or close them.

Will you get bored? Yes. And that’s the point.

Because when you get bored and your mind begins to wander, you’ll start to make new connections around the ideas you have for your stories. You’ll come up with fresh ideas, insights about your life, and clarity about the trajectory you’re on.

Just adding a small practice of stillness can do huge things for you.

And that naturally leads us to the third S: spaciousness.

Spaciousness is a feeling—a state of being where you sense there’s enough time in your day.

There are two simple ways to increase spaciousness:

1. Go slow. Eat at a slower pace, walk slower, get ready slower.

Lisa Cooper Ellison [14:51]
Doing this settles your nervous system and signals to your body that you are living in abundance rather than lack.

Lisa Cooper Ellison [15:00]
When we’re constantly rushing, we stay in a mild fight, flight, freeze, or fawn state. That tells our nervous system: there’s not enough time.

Slowing down creates the opposite message: you are safe, there is enough.

Lisa Cooper Ellison [15:16]
The second way to create spaciousness is by doing fewer activities.

Here’s an exercise:

• Make a list of everything you do throughout the day.
• Label each item as either need to do or nice to do.

Then, cut out as many “nice to do” items as you can.

Next, scrutinize your “need to do” list. This will be challenging for some of you—it is for me—but it’s incredibly important.

Ask yourself two questions:

1. “Is it true that I need to do this?”
   Sometimes we convince ourselves something is essential when it’s really a choice.
    
   • I need to empty my inbox every day.
2.  
   • I need to deep clean my house before I can write.
     Are those really true? Usually, no.
3.  

My rule of thumb: Will not doing this cause harm to myself or someone else?
It might cause discomfort, but true harm? Usually not.

1. “Do I need to be the one who does it?”
   Some tasks are non-negotiable, but that doesn’t mean you have to do them.
   Can you delegate? Can you ask for help?

Nine times out of ten, you’ll find at least one or two things you can offload.

I know asking for help can feel uncomfortable, but it’s essential. It creates a cycle of giving and receiving, allowing others to feel generous and capable while freeing up your own energy.

So, remember the three S’s: sleep, stillness, spaciousness.

Even if you can’t take an entire month off, prioritizing these will help your body and mind feel deeply rejuvenated.

Lisa Cooper Ellison [17:43]
During my break, I focused on these three things.

I slept in. I slowed down. And, thanks to my injury, I spent a lot of time in enforced stillness. That helped me tune in to my inner voice and recalibrate the compass by which I make decisions.

Here are a few things I learned:

1. I need more of the three S’s—more sleep, more stillness, more spaciousness.
2. I need to re-evaluate everything I do.

When I began cutting things from my list, a friend offered me a powerful reminder:

“Make sure you reassign that reclaimed time to your writing.”

For many of us, writing is how we make sense of the world. It’s how we process our feelings, calm our nervous systems, and connect with ourselves.

The more you prioritize writing, the more spacious your life will feel.

Lisa Cooper Ellison [19:15]
So, I invite you to try this alongside me.

And here’s the biggest surprise from my time off:

In the silence, during meditation—and even before my break began—I started hearing a word rise up inside me: pivot.

“Lisa, you need to pivot. You need to look at your business. You need to pivot.”

At first, I thought, oh my gosh, that sounds terrifying.

But through journaling, reflection, and deep listening, I realized this:

I don’t need to make a hard pivot. I’m not abandoning my work.

Instead, I’m being invited to shift—to align my work so that it’s in greater harmony with who I am now and what I’m truly called to do.

Lisa Cooper Ellison [20:00]
Your alignment with your soul’s purpose is of the highest service to everyone else.

Part of being of highest service is making sure you are taking excellent care of yourself, so that you are walking your talk in an even greater way.

This came through so clearly during an Akashic Records reading I did for a friend. The Masters, teachers, and loved ones shared this wisdom:

“When you are of service to yourself, you are also of service to the collective.”

That landed deeply for me. Because I want to be of service to the collective—to all of you, to the world. It’s a central part of my soul’s purpose.

But here’s the truth: I cannot be of service to others if I’m not taking care of myself.

I’m still very much on this journey, and it’s big enough that I’m going to dedicate an entire episode to it. I’ll share my full pivot story with you soon, so stay tuned for that.

For now, just know that this realization has been both scary and exciting. Change always brings discomfort—but I also know how to roll with it. And I’m excited to see where this next chapter takes me.

I want to wrap up today by reiterating a few things we’ve talked about:

• First, lean into the three S’s—sleep, stillness, and spaciousness.
• When you honor those, you’ll create enough quiet in your life to hear the still, small voice inside you.
• And when you can hear that voice, you can capture what it wants you to know and decide what to do with it.

One great way to do this is through uncensored journaling or morning pages.

If you follow Julia Cameron’s work, you know she advocates for writing three full pages within 45 minutes of waking up. It’s a beautiful, proven practice, and I’ll include a link to an article where Julia explains why it works so well.

But if that feels overwhelming, try uncensored journaling instead. It’s essentially the same thing, but you can do it anytime and make it as short or as long as you want.

Lisa Cooper Ellison [22:32]
When you do morning pages or uncensored journaling, always date your entries.

Later, you’ll be able to revisit them and notice patterns—what you’ve been telling yourself, the messages you’ve been receiving, the truths that are quietly unfolding.

This practice helps you evaluate what your inner voice is sharing and decide what steps to take next.

Another powerful tool is meditation.

There are so many ways to meditate—enough for an entire episode of this podcast. If that’s something you’d like me to do, let me know in the comments on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.

Meditation works in two ways:

1. It creates spaciousness and opens you up to receiving insights.
2. It calms your nervous system, allowing you to reconnect with your creative energy and inner compass.

Meditation can be as simple as:

• Staring at a wall for a few minutes.
• Repeating a mantra.
• Focusing on your breath.
• Following a guided meditation.

Another practice I love is having a conversation with yourself.

Go for a walk, lie down somewhere comfortable, or sit quietly—and just start talking out loud. Use your voice memo app or voice-to-text notes if you want to capture what comes through.

I do this often, and I’m always surprised by what I “download” when I let my thoughts flow freely.

Here’s the magic: as you speak out loud, your body will help you discern what’s true. You’ll feel it when the energy is aligned, and that will help you calibrate your inner compass and decide where to go next.

Lisa Cooper Ellison [24:36]
So that’s some insight into the power of rest.

I want to end today with a message from the Masters, teachers, and loved ones—which is also a message from your higher self:

Lisa Cooper Ellison [25:00]
Stop worrying about what the world wants from you and what it expects you to do.

Instead, start thinking about what you want.

Life is short. It’s precious. And it passes in the snap of a finger. One day you’ll look around and wonder, what happened to all that time?

You deserve to spend your days doing things that make you happy, that fill you up, that bring you joy.

You also deserve to have fun.

That’s what rest allows for—especially when you embrace spaciousness and give yourself permission to enjoy your time.

And when you do that, you are celebrating the gift that is you—that beautiful, singular spark you bring to the world.

So, give yourself that gift. Rest. Listen deeply to what your inner voice wants you to know.

All right, that’s it for this week’s episode.

Peace, love, and blessings to all of you.

I look forward to talking with you more soon.