The Purple Monkey’s Lesson: Why Rest Isn’t Weakness

by: Nic Lee - Bennetti Coffee

Always on. Always available. Always exhausted.

That was the Purple Monkey’s reality.

Until he chose differently.

The Purple Monkey didn’t like to take time off.

He told himself he was too busy.

Too many responsibilities.

Too much pressure to deliver.

He didn’t want to let his boss down.

He didn’t want to leave his team stretched.

He didn’t want the company to think he wasn’t committed.

So he pushed through.

He ignored the annual leave piling up.

He never touched his sick or personal days.

He convinced himself that being always available made him stronger.

But it didn’t.

The Purple Monkey noticed the signs:

The anxiety building in his chest.

The impatience in meetings.

The irritability that followed him home.

He suffered in silence. He just got on with it.

He sucked it up. The pressure and anxiety kept mounting. It was eating him up.

It worried him enough to finally do something brave.

He spoke to his family - they supported him.

He spoke to his boss - she understood.

He spoke to his team - they heard him.

And then he did the hardest thing of all.

He took a break. He stepped back. He rested. And he thanked himself for it.

The moral of the story?

Taking a break doesn’t make you weak. It makes you human. It makes you sustainable. And sometimes, it makes you a better teammate and a better family person than pushing through ever could.

So if you need to hear it today: Give yourself permission.