I went home for 3 weeks. I had planned on not saying anything on social media, but intermittently dropped hints of leaving and being in America. There were high hopes to just read and sleep and relax, but my parents were more excited about my arrival and decided to plan at least 1 activity a day. This made getting the time off I needed kind of difficult. Honestly, I didn’t mind because I knew spending time with them was what I was looking most to. I was planning on taking a break until one evening, sitting in bed, I just booked a ticket. I knew it was time. It had been 4 years since I’ve had one of those breaks where I don’t do a single thing. Was it worth it? Yup!
Why I Took a Break
My time away was a bit last minute and unexpected if you can’t tell from what I mentioned above. There were a number of things going on in my life and in my mind that had me subconsciously begging myself for a break.
- Physical Exhaustion - I’m always on the run and usually will only sit down at a desk and do work for 90 minutes before I have another task planned or a meeting to head to. My body was becoming harder to manage each time I got up and I knew if I stayed in the city, I wouldn’t do that at all.
- Lacking Inspiration - Everything from what to make for dinner to what to shoot for the blog and what to wear that day—I couldn’t put together anything that made me really happy.
- Agitated - I was getting quite upset with little things like bureaucracy, people, the morning tube, the list goes on. These are all things that will always be there and usually I know that, but I was not willing to compromise and kept getting agitated about the smallest things.
- No Time for Me - I started calendar blocking my day since the start of the year and found that it has really helped me maximize my time and stay on top of my deadlines. I kept a special pink color for when I created an event that really was an activity for myself and saw less and less of it up until I booked my ticket to home.
- No Disciplined - I couldn’t get myself to committing to anything. I wanted to clean up my diet and get back into the fitness regimen and it felt as if I was lacking motivation and discipline.
Checklist for Going on a Break
- Out of Office email should be set up with what you’re away for, the date you will be back and who to contact in case of an emergency.
- Have 1-2 meals ready in the freezer, so you can use it when you’re back!
- Clean and launder your sheets, so you come back to a happy home.
- Let your trusted neighbor know just in case.
- Stop the post from coming and set up a delivery date for it all for when you’re back
- Communicate with friends, co-workers and family that you’ll be away and when they should expect you back
When I go on a holiday, I like to do things that I don’t necessarily have time for. This is a long list of things and one of them includes leisure reading. I also wanted to just sit in front of a TV and not have to worry about deadlines or anything. Other things include napping, eating well and taking a break by enjoying life slowly. I got to do all these things and find it impressive when people are able to actually just get away from it all. So now, this section of the blog post are for the folks who are not on a holiday and have a friend/colleague/client who is.
- Don’t send them work related messages, texts or emails. Don’t even ask them about something. Definitely don’t do the whole “…and don’t worry about answering that right away, I know you’re on holiday!”
- Don’t ask them to do you a favor. I’m an expat who barely visits home/America, don’t be that person who asks them to bring back something when they probably want to bring back their own things from home.
- Dear bloggers, if your friend is taking a break, then don’t expect them to comment/like on your photos. Respect their time off.
- Dear brands, if you were told by a blogger on holiday that they’re on holiday, don’t push it. Let them have their time off and catch up with them according to the date in the out of office email.
- Think about time difference.
Obviously you now know how important taking a break is? I can’t believe it has been 4 years for me!
