We live in a go, go, go culture. You can see it in our food, our music, our news, and our social sharing. Everything is done in clips, gifs, and 140 characters. Rapid, short lived, but somehow engrained in posterity forever.
Sometimes, the rapid fire isn’t so bad. There’s always room for new, room for innovation, room for expansion and creativity.
But if there’s one thing I’ve observed, is that as a whole we are work-a-holics. Our lives have become so consumed with success and advancement (thank you capitalism), and some people have even found ways to turn “living” into a career (i.e. influencers).
While I find the “influencer” title to be intriguing, I also find it terrifying. Their job is literally to have a life. There’s no real respite from that kind of job. You eat something, you share it. You have a thought, you share it. You went somewhere, you share it. How do you take time off?
That being said, influencers aren’t the only ones consumed by their occupation and therefore can’t assume all the blame.
Professionals in virtually all fields feel pressure to be work-a-holics, because if you put enough time and energy into something, you will theoretically excel. But being a work-a-holic can take a huge emotional, physical, and mental toll. You’re never taking a break; you’re either working or thinking about working.
I’m not special, I definitely feel like I constantly need to be going, doing, moving forward. Taking a break evokes guilty feelings that I should be doing more. Heck, even a “light work day” where I have breaks sometimes makes me feel guilty. It’s like I can never do “enough”.
However, I allowed myself a break this holiday season and my perspective shifted. I was able to spend time with family and friends and keep myself a comfortable amount of busy. I appreciated my lazy hours more as an opportunity to rest and rejuvenate. I did my best to ignore any impending anxieties, and I tried to stay true to myself and do things that made me feel good.
In terms of dancing, after a long break I’m always nervous to get back into movement. Muscle and flexibility dissipates quickly and there’s never enough time to “get back into shape”. Often a solid 75% of my time off consists of me worrying that I’ve gotten out of shape because all I’ve wanted (and chosen to do) was lie on the couch or in bed because I’d been so exhausted from the months leading up to the break.
This time, I tried to stay moving. When I didn’t necessarily want to dance, I did gym and PT exercises. When the day was nice enough I went for a long walk (this girl is NOT a runner). And when there was an open dance class I really wanted to take, I went for it, reminding myself I was not allowed to judge no matter what.
When I returned to class, obviously things weren’t exactly the same as how I’d left them. Some of my flexibility needed work, and several of my muscles were confused at what I was asking them to do. But I felt refreshed. I felt like I’d hit reset on myself and I was rediscovering the joy movement still gives me. It was exactly what I needed.
The point of all this is to say that breaks are good, and you should take them. Even if your break is just the 2 days of a weekend, sometimes that is enough. Don’t be afraid to set aside time for yourself to relax, reset, and rejuvenate. That way when it is time to return to work, you are at less of a risk of burning out.
If you take a healthy break, you’ll most likely return to work feeling more productive, more motivated, and therefore – more successful!
