I’m Taking A Break

I have times in my life when I am really good at telling people how to live a healthy life but struggle to take my own advice. Recently I was telling a friend of mine about my trip to Montreal to visit a friend. He told me I needed to leave my day planner at home and realize that a holiday is meant to actually be a break, not a time to be doing work. I told him all the reasons why bringing my day planner and a few other small things isn’t a big deal and how when you run your own business there needs to be someone there to answer emails and phone calls otherwise your business doesn’t run. After our walk I was thinking of what I really needed and realized that he is right, having not taken a holiday since Christmas, what I need is to take some time off to really be away and recharge. Sometimes we have days, weeks, months or even years that are fuller, more challenging, or busier than usual. This isn’t always a bad thing but it usually ends up leaving us spent in ways we don’t always recognize. I had a client who came in this week saying she was looking forward to summer being over because she believed both her and her recovery journey were in need of a slower pace, something she feels Fall provides. We all sometimes need to slow things down in order to be fully invested in the things that matter most to us. For her, she felt she needed more downtime to prioritize her recovery, something that I could not agree more with and believe many in recovery need. For me, I need to take my vacation and not be constantly plugged in.

So what kind of break do you need? Is your recovery suffering in some way because of something else going on in your life? Do you need to hit the pause button, whether that be for a day, week or season? If we don’t learn to value ourselves and our needs we end up not showing up in all areas of our lives the way we would typically need to. So this fall I wish you the time, space and self directed kindness of gifting yourself a break. Reconnect to you so you can enter into fall focused on what you need and want going forward.