The Art and Science of: Taking a Break

If you follow this blog regularly, you may have noticed that I did not post anything new last week. I was forced to take a break for a few days, and as it turns out, that was just what the doctor ordered.

Literally.

My husband was unexpectedly in the hospital last week due to an infection on his elbow. Yes, it was as random as it sounds. It could have been much more serious than it was, and at the end of the day it didn’t disrupt our lives terribly much.

But what it did do, was force us both to take a break. Him for a week, and me for a few days to help out.

The two weeks leading up to this were two of the most challenging I have had at work in a very long time…possibly in my entire career thus far. Every day I was stressed, every evening I was tired, and my personal tell tale sign (we all have one!) that I needed a break slowly appeared…I was grinding my teeth at night.

And then when you add a couple of sick toddlers, and endless barrage of political ads every day as we approach midterms, and a hurricane or two to the mix…suddenly the mix of my everyday life and the national news just become too much.

So when Nick texted me to say he was being admitted to the hospital, I checked my calendar, knowing I’d need to take the next day off. It was one of those days where nearly every single minute of the day was taken by a meeting of some kind…and most of those meetings overlapped with each other. I stared at it in shock – how did this even happen? And how am I going to make all of this up?

But that’s the beauty of the forced break. You have no choice. So I began emailing everyone that had time on my calendar. Little by little, everything got rescheduled, cancelled, or would go on without me. And you know what?

The world kept spinning.

Everyone got what they needed in one way or another.

Everything was fine.

It was just the reminder I needed that it is possible to slow down and take a break. I wish my husband never had that infection, but I’m happy to be able to make some lemonade with the lemons he was dealt.

But what are the chances that all of us get an urgent, but not-too-serious reminder like this? The reality is, we may get a reminder due to something much more serious, or we may continue on being busy without someone ever forcing us to slow down.

So why wait? Create your own forced break.

Personally, I think I could use a break like that quarterly…or at times even monthly. But next time, I’ll take it without the elbow infection.

And with that, here is your thought experiment to carry you on until next time:

What are your tell tale signs that you need a break?

In what ways could you force yourself to take a break?