Just Rest: Burnout Tips for Everyday Radicals

This is my summer playlist of podcast where I guested this past year. In this appearance on “Burnout, Invisible Labor & the Feminist Fight to Rest” on Feminist Founders, I talk with host Becky Mollenkamp about how women’s invisible labor – caregiving, administration, and housework – contributes to their higher rates of burnout. I’ve alluded to this dynamic all of the first season, but I go int...

Season 1 of Just Rest is officially done — and I went live on Substack to celebrate, say thank you, and make some big announcements about what's coming next, including a major life change that starts this fall. (Note: the sound of the episode isn’t the quality I usually have because of being live and some tech issues.) In this live session, we talk about: The Season 1 Cozy Wrap Party highligh...

Season one ends the way it began — with radical permission. In this final episode, Nicole compiles the "Dear Rest Rebels" messages from every guest this season, and the result is something you'll want to save, return to, and play on repeat. Hear wisdom from Dana Tenille Weekes, Jordan Maney, Jacki Hayes, Taina Brown, Elaina Ramsey, Ixchel Lunar, Becky Mollenkamp, Malik Turley, and C...

What happens when the host gets interviewed? In this special episode, Nicole hands the mic to friend, coaching colleague, and Messy Liberation podcast co-host Taina Brown — and the result is one of the most honest, wide-ranging conversations yet. From the behind-the-scenes chaos of launching a podcast to the theological roots of rest as resistance, Nicole opens up about what she's learned, wh...

What does it look like to stay in the fight — week after week, story after story — without losing yourself in the process? In this episode, Nicole sits down with Anna DeShawn, founder of E3 Radio and The Qube, and host of the Ambie Award-winning Queer News podcast, for a rich conversation about burnout, joy as a practice, faith as a foundation, and what it really means to build something that sust...

What happens when the mission that fuels you becomes the thing that depletes you? In this episode, Nicole sits down with Catharine Montgomery, founder of The Better Together Agency, a communications firm built to amplify organizations doing good in the world. Catharine has rebuilt her business — and herself — more than once, and she doesn't hold back about what that actually costs. This is a...

What if the way you've been told to run your business was never designed for you? Nicole sits down with feminist business coach, podcast host and author Becky Mollenkamp to unpack the capitalist conditioning most entrepreneurs carry without realizing it. They trace the through-line from toxic corporate workplaces to the inner boss we recreate in our own businesses, and ask the question that c...

What does faith have to do with reproductive justice — and what does either have to do with rest? Everything, it turns out. Nicole sits down with Elaina Ramsey, Executive Director of FaithChoice Ohio, an organization that elevates the moral power of faith communities for abortion justice and reproductive freedom in Ohio and beyond. Elaina shares her journey from fundamentalist evangelical to pro-f...

Confession time: Nicole didn’t plan to do a solo episode in season one. But, here it is. In this honest and vulnerable episode, Nicole shares why the podcast briefly disappeared from your feed, what happens when real life collides with ambitious plans, and why sometimes the most humane thing we can do is let good enough be good enough. If you’ve ever felt behind, overwhelmed or like you “should” b...

If you’ve ever sat at your desk thinking, Why is time management so hard for me? … or Googled something like “ADHD time blindness” after being late again … or whispered to yourself, I’m so disorganized. Why can’t I stick to a schedule? — this conversation is going to feel very familiar. Because what if the issue isn’t that you “can’t manage your time”… What if the systems you’ve been handed were n...

In this episode of Just Rest: Burnout Tips for Everyday Radicals , host Nicole Havelka sits down with Dana Tenille Weekes — lawyer-lobbyist, creative and voice behind The Rest of Us podcast — to talk about what rest actually is (and isn’t), how burnout reshaped Dana’s life, and why conversations about rest feel so hard and a little as political violence escalates. We acknowledged that we are recor...

Do you feel like you are constantly "behind," racing against a clock that never slows down? For many revolutionary leaders and creators, time feels like an extractive resource that is always running out. This pressure isn't a personal failing—it is the result of colonial time, a system designed to sever our connection from the land, our bodies, and our natural rhythms to serve toxic...

Are you starting your year with a long list of ways to "fix" yourself? For many world-changers and radicals, the transition into January is often met with the heavy pressure of New Year’s resolutions that focus on getting smaller, working harder, or "improving" a body that was never broken. This episode of Just Rest explores how to dismantle the "shame spiral" of trad...

If you've burned out more than once and keep wondering what's wrong with you — nothing is. But something is very wrong with the culture you're swimming in. In this debut episode, host Nicole Havelka sits down with Radical Joy Coach™ Jordan Maney to name the systemic forces that make burnout feel like personal failure when it's actually a predictable outcome of a broken system....

Just Rest: Burnout Tips for Everyday Radicals, hosted by Nicole Havelka, helps everyday radicals and world-changers who are tired, but not giving up to find connection, support, and soul-deep inspiration to keep resisting grind culture while staying true to their values. Nicole Havelka is a burnout survivor, ordained pastor, yoga teacher, and founder of Defy the Trend. She spent years trying to ch...