Posted by How often do you take a break? I mean a BIG break!
We usually take small breaks every now and then – for a movie, some sports, a get-together, a trip to a nearby town for an event, or something on those lines. It is important to take the small breaks. But although the small breaks may refresh you to a certain extent, they may not add up to being a good recreation.
What everyone should try to add in to their lifestyle is the habit of taking big breaks once in while. Big breaks have the unique advantage of leaving you completely recreated, of course if properly planned, and feeling on top of the world at the end of it.
Although I think the trend is picking up, it is not yet common enough for everyone to take big breaks. There could be a few hurdles that could come in the way of many. Household responsibilities, financial status, or it could be as simple as not wanting to take a big break – a typical sign of a workaholic. However, it is pretty much possible to want to take a break. All excuses can be worked over, and you do not have to wait until you are at the point of exhaustion physically, mentally and spiritually, to have a strong reason to take a big break.
My current boss takes a big break twice each year. And almost every time he does that, he adds a new entry to the list of countries he has visited. What an enriching experience, and most certainly a recreating one away from the busy days at work. And when he comes back, he is full of enthusiasm and excitement that can take him through the next six month of work at his peak performance level. How rewarding!
A big break need not be an expensive one. If you are too caught up with work on a day to day basis, the big break could be as simple as taking a vacation and spending time at home doing the things that you always wished to do if you had more time at your hands. You could pursue that hobby that you have been pushing aside for all this while. You could catch up with your friends and relatives whom you have not been having time to pay a visit to. Or you could do just about anything that would make you feel that you have been able to come back on track in your life.
In this busy world where time just flies, and before you know, it is already one more year since you last celebrated your birthday, it is very important to look back and check whether you have been including recreation in your life’s book. It doesn’t have to be too often… not daily or weekly or even monthly if you cannot manage to make the time for it, as you might be at the peak of your career goals for example. However, if you have not been taking a long vacation off to recreate yourself completely once every 6 months or at least once every year, it is time you take a hard look on your lifestyle. It’s time you take a big break!
[...] (a) Prioritize the tasks and handle those that are most urgent plus important. Do you know about the four quadrants of tasks based on urgency and importance? If not, watch out for the article right here! It’s coming soon. (b) Eat regularly. A schedule is best! In our quest for success, we should not forget our very basic needs. Doing so brings in stress naturally into our life. If you experience tiredness and especially mild headache for not having taken in food for several hours, it is time you feed your body. The best bet is to stick to a schedule of food intake that ensures you are keeping your body well fueled to help drive you through the day, and night. (c) Exercise daily. Exercise need not be heavy; we are not talking about building muscle mass here. Just stretching the body daily is all you need to do to ensure it functions well and keeps the brain cells developing too. (d) Stop complaining! Everyone has problems, and you are not the only one stressed. Complaining about the problems only helps amplify them. Decide right now that you will not complain about your problems to everyone. If you do need to, then speak about the problems to someone who can help you overcome them, rather than just lend you a sympathetic ear. (e) Prepare in advance. Beware of procrastination. Stressful situations usually do not pop out of nowhere. Half of them would probably be seen coming well in advance if you are alert enough. You can act on mitigating the risks before they turn into problems. Remember, procrastination of remedial actions even after seeing the storm coming is a sure way of welcoming stress into your life. (f) When good enough is good enough, settle for good enough. If you haven’t already read my article on this, you can read it here. (g) Have a hot shower immediately upon returning home from office. This one helps me get over the tiredness from office and feel refreshed and charged up for a fresh part of the day. Water has a healing effect on the body and can act as a good stress reliever. Let the shower be the first thing upon returning home from office, by all means, certainly before the television. (h) Pursue a hobby – preferably sports. A hobby triggers the body-mind connection. It helps you enter the special areas of your being that can bring you inner peace and joy. Like most other stress busters this one too seems like a difficult thing to do when time is the last thing that you can spare. (i) Reward yourself. Most of us go through life never even acknowledging our own achievements or any other good work. Rewarding oneself for the hard work helps build the self satisfaction, which boosts the positive thought process and helps in handling stressful situations with more confidence. (j) Have good sleep every night. Being a workaholic myself, this is one area that I had long been ignoring, trying to make the best use of as much time as I could take out before finally going to bed. Result? Lack of sleep, and increasing stress in daily life. I would stress (pun intended) on this one as one of the most important things to do on a regular basis to help fight stress – Sleep for a good seven to eight hours regularly if you have not already been doing so, even if you feel that it might be a waste of valuable time that you could use for some more important activities. Trust me; the effects of good sleep would be obviously visible to you if you practice it daily. (k) Consider taking a big break. Catch up on this one in my earlier article here. [...]