I made rest my career, while burning out myself…

Helping everyone else rest taught me how little I was listening to my own body.

A few years ago, my work was all about creating calm, restful homes for other people. I helped clients from all walks of life — leaders of companies, kibbutz dwellers, friends, and family. My job was to help them feel rest and peace at home, through beauty, organisation, redesigning layouts, and choosing aesthetics that supported calm.

And I was so good at it! It made me happy.

Except… It wasn’t proving peace and calm for myself. I painted every inch of my home, curated every detail, and was intentional about every choice — all while my family grew around me.

I thought I was resting. Weekends off. Screen-free evenings. Holidays… sometimes. But I never felt restored. My energy stayed low. My mind constantly buzzed. My body remained tense. I didn’t realise it, but my nervous system was running on overdrive — and all the “rest” in the world couldn’t fix it.

It took hitting burnout to notice.

That’s when I started paying attention. I realised rest isn’t just external. It isn’t a weekend, a holiday, or switching off your phone. True rest begins internally — when your body feels safe enough to slow down and your nervous system can shift out of stress into regulation.

Then the real work began.

I started to see how my nervous system interpreted the world through the traumas I carry — many of them unconscious. Rewiring it meant confronting these traumas. It got messy. But it also got clear. I started reconnecting my body, mind, and emotions — which had been operating independently, like strangers in the same house.

Suddenly I noticed everything: shortness of breath around certain people, palpitations, sweaty palms, and even bursts of rage cleaning when tricky topics arose. These are all clues from your body, guiding you toward unresolved trauma and helping you rewire your nervous system — so you no longer respond to danger that isn’t real.

Here’s what I’ve learned since then:

• Your body holds the story of your stress. Anxiety, overwhelm, and exhaustion are signals — not failures.

• Trauma responses are protective. Fight, flight, freeze, or fawn exist to keep you safe. But if your system stays there too long, it hijacks energy, focus, and wellbeing.

• Environments can help or hinder. Neuroaesthetics shows how our surroundings impact our nervous system. Light, texture, layout, and even colour can support regulation or reinforce stress.

This is where my worlds collided. Helping people create rest in their homes directly supports their nervous system health. Trauma-informed design became a passion, and integrating neuroaesthetics into my coaching programs allows clients — even in leadership and business roles — to access calm, clarity, and sustainable thriving.

The irony wasn’t lost on me: I’d been helping others reset for years, but only by tuning into my own nervous system did I learn what rest truly means.

The heart of it: You can’t outsource your peace. You can’t let your body run in stress mode and expect a weekend to fix it. But you can start listening, regulating, and building rest into your life in a way that actually works — without burning out.

When was the last time you truly felt safe in your body — not just rested, but regulated?