## Rest doesn't need permission When someone says "enjoy your break," there's a quiet assumption buried in it: that your time belongs to the institution first, and what's left over is yours. Work is the default. Rest is framed as exception. **The institution didn't just take your hours. It took the frame.** Before schedules claimed your days, time was just life moving at its own pace. You worked when something needed doing. You rested when it didn't. The rhythm was yours. Now even leisure is managed. Holidays are scheduled. Entertainment is packaged and sold back to you. You're given just enough freedom to recover — so you can return. The break isn't rest, really. It's maintenance. ## You're not a worker who gets to rest sometimes. You're a person who occasionally agrees to work. "Enjoy your break" is a hall pass. It implies you've been temporarily released from your obligations — make the most of it before you're called back. I don't want permission to exist.