Forced Labor is Harder than Labors of Love
Nobody plans for a pandemic. I certainly didn’t. I doubt that most people expected to have a Break forced on them by sudden unemployment or WFH orders.
I was fortunate enough that I wasn’t laid off because of the pandemic, but I did have the opportunity to take a Break of my own around the same time many people were forced into Break mode.
I was tired and had been tired for a long time. Like most folks, I work hard, but I have not yet mastered the art of balance in my life. I’m a work in progress.
So for the first time in my life, I took an extended vacation from work. Two months off. A true out of office, not the kind you set up and then keep working anyway.
No working, no business calls, just pure focus on what I needed to recharge and begin prioritizing myself again.
I chose to Take a Break Because I knew that I needed to, even despite and before the current state of affairs began to unfold.
My vision: I’d sleep in every day, spend lots of time with friends, meet new friends, lose ten pounds, and do absolutely nothing even remotely resembling office work.
I thought I was going to have my own personal retreat that consisted of pampering myself and, for the first time in my life, hitting pause on my very busy lifestyle.
The revelation: I found out that in order to recharge, I needed to change my mindset and put that new mindset into practice.
The mindset shift: Instead of doing things because they were a part of my job or because I felt like I had to, like walking the dog or taking out garbage for example, I started doing things simply because I wanted to. I still have to do these things, so why not attach some enthusiasm?
I want to go and share with my buddy, I want to keep my space nice and clean.
What I learned was that I got much more enjoyment from some of the same everyday activities that I’ve always done.
The proof: I’ve never really enjoyed getting up early. Some people do, but it’s never been my thing. Until now.
I decided I would be ok with resting and getting more out of my day by getting up earlier. Guess what!? It would seem that I’m actually a morning person! Or my version of one at least.
And believe me when I say that nobody, and I mean nobody, who’s ever seen me pre-coffee would have expected that.
But once I didn’t have to wake up early out of unenthusiastic necessity (here’s looking at you, 8 AM meetings!), I started waking up early naturally, and I bounced out of bed ready to conquer whatever I chose to do that day—or whatever I chose to make of it.
The sprinkles on top: The biggest achievement of my time off has been launching Takes a Break. Hold up. Sure, starting Takes a Break is a different type of work than I usually do, but isn’t that still work? Yes, yes it is. So doesn’t that go against my whole idea of not working for two months? Yep, absolutely.
But here’s the thing. I didn’t need to stop “working.” What I really needed was a different type of productivity entirely: self-growth.
“Once I took that big first step of choosing to Take a Break, everything else became about how I was going to build on that choice, and it impacted my attitude as to other important parts of my life.”
