A transformative, practical guide to true wellness and a life of abundance and balance, from the renowned astrophysicist, TED Fellow, and working mother.

What would your life look like if you allowed yourself to rest?

Dr. Aomawa Shields is a lifelong overachiever. While working harder than everyone else led to career success and public accolades—from completing her six-year PhD program in five to presenting a celebrated TED Talk that has received 1.8 million views—when she became a mom, a crisis of mental and physical health forced her to question the cost of pushing herself to the brink—and look for a better way.

As an astronomer searching for life on other planets, Dr. Shields has long learned from the cosmos, and in these pages she shares her hard-won wisdom, structured over the course of a year of practice. With her expert guidance and the same rest tools she teaches her students, you can learn to:

• choose self-compassion over self-hatred and -critique
• pause and settle using techniques from yoga nidra, mindfulness, and mindfulness
• take action from a place of rest, which is far more productive than action born from chronic exhaustion, anxiety, and stress
• set boundaries with yourself and others
• unravel expectations around being a "good mother, "good daughter," "good friend," and "good worker"
• live seasonally and in relationship with nature