What We Learned About Rest

Flourish Sydney Community - The Power of the Pause. Photographed by Lou Eagleton

August 2026

On Friday 28 August, we gathered at Ace Hotel Sydney for our Flourish Elevate & Restore Series Morning Edition: The Power of the Pause. Sixty women. Seven tables. One theme that most of us carry quietly and rarely make time to talk about: rest.

Our speaker for the morning was Rebecca Kaye, founder of Aio Wellness, a Sydney-based wellness business supporting women through the challenges of everyday life and bigger transitions. Rebecca led an honest, practical conversation about why so many of us resist rest in the first place, what it is really costing us, and how small, deliberate pauses built into an ordinary day can change everything.

Her message was simple but landed deeply: we are human beings, not human doings. The pause isn't something we earn once everything on the list is done. It's part of the work of being human.

This gathering brought together 7 tables of 9 women each, with a moderator at every table guiding the conversation around this event's theme, rest. Every Flourish gathering leaves us with something to sit with afterward, and this one was no exception. Our moderators brought back rich, honest conversations from each table, and a few themes kept surfacing again and again.

Balance & Energy

The clearest thread through nearly every table was boundaries. Protecting time and energy came up as something the women in the room are actively working on, not something they've already mastered.

Several groups also talked about triggers, the personal signals that tell you rest is overdue. Think of it as your own early warning system, similar to the idea of habit cues from Atomic Habits, but pointed inward toward your own wellbeing.

Identity & Self

One of the most freeing ideas to come out of the day was this: rest is subjective. What restores one person can feel like a chore to another. Gardening might be someone's sanctuary and someone else's to-do list item, and both are true at once.

Alongside that came a quieter, more uncomfortable thread, the guilt that shows up the moment we stop. Naming it seemed to be the first step toward loosening its grip.

Peace & Presence

Nature came up often, both as a restorative practice and as something worth building rituals around. A walk, a moment outside, a return to the natural world as a way of resetting.

We also shared the physiological sigh, a simple breathing technique (a double inhale through the nose, followed by a long exhale through the mouth) that can shift your nervous system in seconds. It costs nothing and takes less than a minute.

The day closed with Donna Ashworth's poem "Go Little," which felt like the right note to end on, a gentle permission slip to slow down.

Community & Belonging

A recurring insight was the importance of being conscious about who you spend time with. Some people energize you, others quietly drain you, and knowing the difference is its own kind of self care.

Leadership & Holding Space

Perhaps the most challenging idea for a room full of leaders was this one: don't be the expert. Letting go of control, even briefly, and allowing others to hold responsibility, was offered as a way to lighten your own load rather than carry everything alone.

Flourish Sydney Community - The Power of the Pause. Photographed by Lou Eagleton.

Thank you to everyone who shared so openly at the tables. These conversations are what make Flourish what it is.