LOOKING FOR A SIGN TO TAKE A LAZY DAY? THIS IS IT.

Regardless of what your stacked schedule dictates (or what your parents say), it’s actually kind of crucial to relax on the regular. So go ahead and embrace a laid-back moment.— Here’s how.

- KELSEY HAYWOOD LUCAS

It ’s 11:15 on Saturday morning and, after hitting snooze for the sixth time, you finally wake up feeling bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. But when you grab your phone to start planning your day, panic sets in.

Right before your very eyes, there’s Hannah from gymnastics at the finish line of a charity 5K you were contemplating. As you continue to scroll, your feed fills with the pretty proof of everyone else’s early-bird achievements: the breakfast scones baked by your lab partner, the wildflowers your BFF foraged and artfully arranged, the morning meditation your cousin completed…for the 10th day in a row. You groan—and instantly feel guilty for “wasting” the day on those three extra hours of sleep.

Sound familiar? That nagging feeling in the back of your head (that whatever you’re doing isn’t productive enough or good enough or cool enough) is caused by time-shaming…and it’s a pressure we get from our parents, teachers, friends and, yep, even ourselves. And while it’s hardly ever intentional, the result is almost always the same: You’re stuck feeling like you don’t measure up to everyone else’s glowed-up life.

You’re not alone. Nearly every girl on the planet feels some level of pressure to be constantly productive. But here’s the good news: If you’re on obligation overload, pressing pause on your whirlwind life can actually be good for you, regardless of whatever else awaits your attention (like homework, ACT prep, violin lessons, soccer practice and driving school, just to name a few).