When Rest Feels Like a Risk

Here's a fun game: Ask a security professional when they last took a real vacation. Not the "checking Slack from the beach" kind. Not the "I'll just monitor alerts" kind. An honest, phones-off, out-of-office vacation.

I'll wait.

If you work in cybersecurity, you know the feeling: stepping away can seem like an impossible luxury. There’s always another alert, another urgent 'Can you take a look at this?' that keeps you tethered to your desk. Rest can feel like a risk you can’t afford—but what if the real risk is not resting?

The Math Doesn't Math:

Chronic stress + Sleep deprivation + Alert fatigue + Drugs/Alcohol = Worse decisions && Higher Turnover && Mental Health Issues

Yet here we are, energy drinks in hand, convincing ourselves we can outwork our shadows.

The Myth of Endless Vigilance

We talk a lot about resilience—but usually in the context of networks and infrastructure. We harden systems, set up redundancies, off-site backups, and implement fail-safes. Hell, I think there was a chapter in my CISSP book 15 years ago that was about uninterrupted power supplies.

Yet, when it comes to our own well-being, many of us run on fumes, often self-medicating with drugs or alcohol and maybe slapping some band-aids on along the way.

The idea that constant vigilance equals peak performance is a lie we tell ourselves. Or more accurately a lie told to us by …everything around us.

The truth is, you can’t be a sharp, decisive, high-impact professional if you’re perpetually exhausted. Rest isn’t just recovery—it’s operational readiness.

Rest as a Strategy

Think about incident response. You don’t wait until the breach is catastrophic to take action—you build proactive defenses. Rest works the same way. By incorporating real, meaningful rest into your life, you’re building a buffer against mental and emotional depletion.

When you’re well-rested, you make better decisions. You react faster. You think more creatively. You lead with clarity. In an industry where one bad call can have massive consequences, rest isn’t a weakness; it’s a superpower.

You’re also drastically reducing the likelihood of major physical health complications.

Want to know a stat I heard in recent years that floored me? There is a 24% increase in risk of a heart attack the Monday after Daylight Savings Time in the Spring due to your sleep being screwed up.

Ever look up the complications of sleep apnea? Poor sleep is the cause of so many health issues it’s insane. How well can you serve your family or your career if you’re on an absolute health nose dive due to chronic bad sleep?

Meditation Apps Won’t Save You

Let's talk about the wellness industrial complex for a second. You know the one - selling you meditation app subscriptions and sleep trackers while your metaphorical house is on fire. Here's what they won't tell you: You can't mindfulness your way out of a fundamentally broken system.

All the meditation apps, yoga, breathwork, and self-care tips in the world won’t fix a life that is built around running yourself ragged.

The wellness industry loves to sell solutions that fit into 10-minute time slots: a guided breathing exercise, a mindfulness session, a productivity hack. But a job or life that regularly pushes you to the brink, won’t be fixed by a new app. You need structural changes, not just coping mechanisms.

Do I think these are all good tools in your arsenal? Absolutely. I’ve greatly enjoyed my tip toeing into learning about mindfulness. But it can absolutely not pull you from the brink by itself.

Build a Life That Facilitates Rest

True rest comes from building a life and career that allows for it—not just squeezing in recovery after you’ve already hit the wall. This means setting boundaries, saying 'no' when needed, and pushing back against toxic productivity norms.

Here are some strategies to reclaim rest as part of your personal strategy:

1. Schedule Rest Like an Incident Response Drill: Block out recovery time in your calendar and treat it as non-negotiable.

2. Automate and Delegate: Leverage automation tools and share responsibilities with your team so you’re not the only line of defense. (Avoid superhero culture)

3. Create a Mental Health Playbook: Just like you’d create a runbook for a security incident, build a personal playbook for handling stressful periods, including steps like stepping away, seeking support, or taking time off.

   • Side note: I consider this step the most important. I have actually documented warning signs that I’m slipping into a bad mental state, be it depression or burn out. And I have break glass in case of emergency things that my family knows about in those cases. I have certain doctors I’ll call, or if I need to pop smoke and drive out to a camp site with the roof off and windows blaring, be alone with a book and a bbq for a few days, no questions asked - go do it.

4. Red Team Your Work-Life Balance: Conduct regular self-assessments. Where are your weak points when it comes to rest and recovery? Address them proactively.

5. Rethink Success Metrics: If your only measure of success is 'staying on top of everything,' you’ve already lost. Redefine what winning looks like—it might mean working fewer hours but making more impactful decisions.

The Real ROI of Rest

We love metrics. We track uptime, response times, time to fix, and risk levels—but how do we track our own recovery? What if we saw rest as an investment in long-term performance?

Stepping away isn’t a risk—it’s resilience in action. The strongest systems aren’t the ones that never fail; they’re the ones that bounce back faster and stronger. Unless we’re building a bridge - then please make sure it doesn’t fail.

You can’t fix the world if you’re running on empty. Build a life that supports your well-being. Prioritize rest—not as a reward, but as a requirement. The best defense isn’t just a good offense—it’s showing up at your best when it matters most.

P.S. If you're reading this after hours, during your vacation, or while "just checking alerts real quick," this post is especially for you. Close the laptop. We’ll still be here tomorrow.