That’s according to a now-viral tweet by the artist Eso Tolson, which interrogates the reason why so many of us believe we need to ‘earn’ any rest we take.

“I don’t know who needs to hear this but rest is not a reward,” Tolson wrote. “You don’t have to earn rest. You need rest. You deserve rest. You are worthy of rest simply because you are a living being. And don’t ever feel guilty for taking time to rest.”

Responding to a follower who said they felt guilty when they don’t accomplish things on a daily basis due to mental health issues, Tolson added: “We’ve been taught that our worth/value is based on our productivity. So, when we’re not being ‘productive’ we feel ‘worthless’ or not valuable. As if we’re supposed to constantly be producing… like a machine. It’s insidious really.”

Burnout: this viral tweet nails what so many of us get wrong about rest