Why Take a Break, and Why I‘m Taking One
A long-planned vacation is almost here. I will be away from my computer, emails, and texts for several weeks. As I thought about this, I realized that I would not be able to post a blog for a while. At first I was concerned, how could I find a way to keep my posting schedule? Publishing a blog every two weeks is now automatic for me. Then I thought, wait, I’m going to be on vacation! The meaning of vacation began to sink in. Let that responsibility go – for a while. I checked and I have published a blog every two weeks for almost four years. This blog is the seventy-third in that two-week sequence.
So, now thinking vacation, I have decided to take a break for a month and come back to my blog writing on September 3rd, and at that time resume my bi-weekly schedule.
Deciding to take this blog hiatus got me thinking about the purpose of taking breaks from one’s regular routine. Most of what I looked into reflected on the problems of burnout and stress. Fortunately for me, I don’t have a problem with those at this time. But that doesn’t mean that a break isn’t in order. And most of this is about short breaks during the day, but I believe that the information also pertains to longer breaks as well.
It is wise to keep in mind that we can all find ourselves experiencing burnout and stressful periods so for the record here are some warning signs thanks to John Rampton at https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/285756;
- You really don’t feel like getting up in the morning
- You are more careless, and make more mistakes
- You don’t feel motivated
- You can’t stay focused on the work at hand
- Your health has slipped, insomnia, headaches, just not feeling good
- You avoid socializing with colleagues or friends
- You feel resentful of your boss, co-workers, or simply your job
Other research noted that it’s good to take a break before you begin to feel burned out. Taking a break can prevent stress from building up.
Humans are designed to take breaks although in our current culture, it’s hard to recognize when they are needed. Today many people tend to sit at a desk focused on only several types of tasks or interactions watching the time and spurred on by a deadline. Imagine living centuries ago, millennia ago. Human work was much more physical and much more varied. There were a myriad of different farming tasks, gathering, preparing, and cooking tasks for example. The variety and physicality of these tasks automatically created breaks in the flow of the workday.
Today, we are urged to take a break every couple of hours. Get up, move around, do some stretches, get a cup of tea or coffee, walk outside for five minutes, meditate or do breathing exercises for five minutes. My favorite is to go outside and for a two or three minute interval just listen, count the sounds, notice how close, how far, how high, low, loud, or soft the sounds are. You can also try the same exercise with other senses, sight, smell, or touch. These exercises provide a real shift in focus, and that is the point.
This leads to recognizing the benefits of shifting focus and taking breaks. Along with the need for a variety of activity, I found these reasons that breaks are helpful and healthful thanks to Meg Selig, http://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/changepower/201704/how-do-work-breaks-help-your-brain-5-surprising-answers
- Being physically active for a few minutes is actually essential for physical and emotional health
- Prevents “decision fatigue” or just doing the simplest thing so you don’t have to think about it, or put something off
- Revives a sense of motivation
- Increases productivity and creativity
- A pause helps to consolidate memories and improves learning
So, I’m heading off for a long pause. I wonder what new ideas and perspectives I will write about come September.