Take Proper Breaks

Two mindsets around the importance of taking proper breaks from work, passion projects, and anything else you’ve got going on

Hey, it’s Alexandra. Welcome to my weekly newsletter where I share my latest reflections on professional development and well-being.

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This week, I’m sharing two mindsets around the importance of taking proper breaks from work, passion projects, and anything else you’ve got going on.

 ☕️ Read time: 3 mins (best with tea or coffee)

Garden zen

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Last June, I motored to write two newsletters in one week. I was hell-bent on scheduling the latter a week ahead of time so it would go out routinely while I was on vacation. That’s how committed I was to “not missing a week” while safeguarding my time off.

But it was all for naught.

Because shortly thereafter, in July, I suddenly stopped publishing altogether.

I was so fried from solopreneurship that I no longer had energy to write—let alone do much of anything (other than stress over whether I would ever feel like myself again).

To quote Kahlil Gibran, I felt like the remnants of a “flame that burn[ed] to its own destruction.”

But thankfully, where fire finished me, water brought me back.

After two weeks of soaking up the sun, surrounding mountains and serenity of the lake where I grew up, I returned to the city renewed the wiser.

I’ve since adopted two new mindsets around the importance of taking proper breaks, which is precisely why I’m hitting ‘Pause’ on my weekly posts for the next two (maybe, three) weeks to maximize my imminent staycation.

Two Mindsets on Maximizing Vacation Time

Mindset #1: When you cram the work you would be doing during your vacation time into the weeks before and after, you kneecap the extent to which you can relax during your break.

Last June marked twenty months of publishing weekly. I was proud of my streak and in hindsight, insecure about breaking it. But since then, and largely due to my forced break due to burnout, I’ve gained the confidence to hit ‘Pause’ without fear of “Will I be able to get back into it?”

So rather than pushing myself to get double the work done in half the time so I can be fully offline during my time off, I’m opting to honour my break by eliminating my workload. Case in point, hitting ‘Pause’ on my newsletter.

Granted my newsletter is a passion project and reducing job-related work is more difficult, here are my tips to avoid exhausting yourself pre and post-vacay.

First, delegate. Chances are if you’re someone who steps up to cover for your colleagues while they’re away, they’ll be happy to do the same for you. So as long as you’re organized and appreciative, take advantage of any cover you can get.

Second, avoid cutting your vacation short by working the day before you’re due back. It’s natural to want to minimize the stress of catching up on everything you’ve missed by carving out uninterrupted time—but it’s unfortunate if that cuts into your time off.

So if possible, block your calendar on your first day back and keep your autoresponder set to your second. That way you can keep people at bay while you get caught up and maximize precious time with family and friends. (They did this at one of the companies I used to work for and what a difference in facilitating smooth returns.)

Mindset #2: You need to take breaks and remove yourself from your typical environment to gain the clarity you need to make major life changes.

A few years ago, I made a radical career change that I didn’t see coming—at least not imminently. But a former boss and lifelong mentor gave me a brilliant metaphor to describe what I was experiencing.

He told me I was having a “come-to-Jesus moment.”

According to the one and only Merriam-Webster, a come-to-Jesus moment is “a moment of sudden realization, comprehension, or recognition that often precipitates a major change.”

I ended up writing a post about my “CTJ” moment the following summer—which you can read here to understand how it served me in the long run:

In addition to safeguarding my well-being by eliminating my workload rather than redistributing it, I’m excited to see if this break prompts me to take my writing in a new direction.

This edition of my newsletter marks 133 weeks of publishing. I’ve been contemplating “What’s next?” so stay tuned for a potential CTJ moment.

In the meantime, I hope you maximize your time off.

Thanks for reading and have a wonder-full couple of weeks,

Alexandra

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