Should You Allow Yourself to Take Time Off?
Yes, you absolutely should take time off – and here’s why.
I am terrible at taking time off.
There is a certain sense of guilt that comes with what are my obligations. Even those that are self-imposed.
When I don’t meet those expectations, I feel bad. That can turn negative on a dime, and before you know it the brain weasels start chittering. You’re bad, you are worthless, what do you think you are doing? etc.
For this reason, taking time off is problematic. Especially because all that I do is nonstandard. It feels like I am being judged by the world if I take time off. Dude, you don’t work 9-5, you don’t have a W-2 producing job, and you need to hustle all the time.
If anyone judges me thusly, I am not aware of it. But there is someone else that passes such judgments all too close to me.
That would be me.
But even people who work standard jobs face the same question. Should you allow yourself to take time off?
Spoiler alert – the answer is yes.
Nobody can live without rest
There is not a single, solitary person on the entirety of Planet Earth that can live without rest. I’m not writing about sleep – I mean taking breaks, pausing, and being at rest.
Nobody is capable of go go go go all the time. Some are more capable than others, that’s true (says the guy who spent 2 hours fencing in the sun with only a 10-minute break this past weekend). But even those who can push need to rest.
Sleep is important. So is just being still and at rest. Along that line – taking time off is acceptable. And more than acceptable. It is, quite frankly, absolutely necessary.
American culture is especially hard on people taking time off. It’s for this reason that flu season is frequently pernicious as all get-out. The workplace discourages taking time off – even when your physical health is on the line. Thus, people who are sick come in – and rather than losing 1 worker for a day or 2, the whole office loses productivity over a few weeks while the flu moves through the staff (or, presently, COVID).
For this reason, it feels like taking time off is not standard, should be avoided, and is frequently inappropriate.
Of course, nothing could be further from the truth.
This leads to the next issue.
Am I worthy and deserving of taking time off?
The short answer is yes.
You needn’t be someone special, privileged, or otherwise “important.” You, whoever you might be, are worthy and deserving of taking time off.
That’s because every single human being on the planet needs rest. And that means taking time off.
But for many, that still comes with guilt. Why? Because the nature of our culture is that if you do not give your all – and more – you are not worthy. You deserve to suffer when you are not giving your 110% or more. Give to your work, family, friends, and even random strangers. Give ‘til it hurts.
What this neglects to account for is that nobody comes with unlimited fuel.
Like a car or the battery on a cell phone, without fuel, it won’t function. This applies to you and me, too. Food and water are not the only fuel human beings consume. We also need mental, emotional, and spiritual energy that comes from things like rest, time off, and the like.
Thus, whoever you are, you are worthy and deserving of taking time off.
Normalizing self-care
What this all comes down to is normalizing self-care.
It is not selfish to take care of yourself. Why? Because everyone has themselves. You always have yourself, and thus you should care for yourself.
Why? Because you are amazing.
I know that can be super hard to believe, and sometimes it feels like a lie. But you are. You are uniquely you, and that means you are uniquely amazing.
Thus, take time off. You should allow yourself to get rest, recharge, and do things that bring you joy with no obligations, expectations, or guilt.
I believe that when each of us accepts and works with this more, individually, we move the needle from abnormal to normal. Normalizing self-care, taking time off, and not creating or feeling guilt over it is too important to disregard.
Finally – why, how, and what you do with your time off is nobody else’s business. You needn’t justify your reasons for self-care, time off, and the like.
What you gain when you do take time for yourself is more energy, more balance, and better centering to handle everyday matters. And you are worthy and deserving of that without guilt or shame.
Allowing yourself to take time off isn’t hard
It’s all about working with mindfulness of your thoughts, feelings, and intentions to direct your actions.
When you accept that you are worthy and deserving of a break, that self-care is important, and that you are not selfish for acting on that – you can and should take time off. Knowing that everyone needs to take time off to perform self-care – whatever form that takes – you can use mindfulness to overcome any guilt or shame that crops up from doing so. When you take time off without guilt or shame, you help further normalize self-care. This empowers you, and in turn, your empowerment can empower others around you. Choosing for yourself tends to lean positively.
Taking an approach to positivity and negativity – from the vast space that exists between them – shifts the concept in a way to open more dialogue. In that form, we can explore and share where we are between those extremes and how that impacts us here and now.
Lastly, I believe the better aware we are of ourselves in the now, the more we can do to choose and decide how our life experiences will be. If that empowers us, it can also open those around us to their own empowerment. And that is, to me, a worthwhile endeavor to explore and share.
Thank you for coming along on this ride with me.
This is the four hundred and thirty-fourth entry of my Positivity series. I hope that these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone. Feel free to share, re-blog, and spread the positivity.
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