🔥 Strategic pause: In Community #88

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“Creativity blooms in spaces where urgency doesn’t dominate.” – Aurora James, founder of the 15 Percent Pledge

Take a deep breath.

You’re here. That in itself is powerful.

We’ve been taught to hustle. To overperform. To prove. But what if the most radical act – for us, our communities, and even the brands and businesses we build – is rest?

In conversations I’ve been having on neurodivergence, consumption vs. contribution, and impact – not just identity – at work, something has became clear: rest isn’t passive. It’s purposeful.

Especially in an industry that thrives on 24/7 content, campaigns, and KPIs.

So let’s go there.

Rest isn’t a pause from the work – it is the work.

Last week, when I wrote about always being the go-to guy for what the team needed at work, what I didn’t say was the lengths to which I often went because of an expectation that came from my manager.

I know I’m not the only one that pulled an all-nighter or worked weekends time and again, silently getting closer and closer to burnout with every step.

For marketers and creatives, rest challenges urgency culture. It invites us to unlearn the idea that inspiration is infinite or that speed equals value.

It creates space for more grounded storytelling and culturally-rooted creativity.

👉🏽 What would it look like if your campaign deadlines were built with space to reflect, not just react?

👉🏽 How would your brand strategy shift if you allowed for rest as a principle, not just a perk?

👉🏽 Where could you take your business and its impact on our communities if you made time for recovery, not just repetition?

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I know, I know – sometimes this isn’t fully in your control. And with heightened pressure all around us, it feels tougher and tougher.

Right?

Here’s the reality: Brands that truly champion us must also model it in their process. Rest makes room for voices that are too often drowned out by urgency: the nuanced, the intergenerational, the culturally intentional. When we slow down, we listen differently – and we create differently.

So this week, ask yourself:

• Is my rest performative, or is it protective?

• Are we creating marketing with community, or just about community?

• What does it mean for our brands to choose depth over speed?

Need to Know

• Burnout isn't just personal – it's systemic. Consider how your workflows, briefs, and budgets honor (or ignore) human limits.

• Creators and our ideas across the rising majority are often tapped last-minute. Want the best? Build time in from the start.

• Rested minds don’t just feel better – they build better brands.

If this resonated, pass it on 🔁. If it sparked something deeper, hold on to it.

We can’t create change if we’re too tired to imagine it.

In community,

Fahad