Taking A Break Made Me Fall Back In Love With My Job
A Life Lesson I Learnt During My Month-Long Break
“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.”
— Anne Lamott
It's like being in a marriage.
Over the years, you get used to each other. You don't even notice the changes in your partner. The picture from the outside looks perfect, but deep down, you know that the spark is missing. You start to take each other for granted, assuming the other person will always be there.
That's when you should realise that the relationship desperately needs some nourishment.
The same goes for your work.
Day in, day out, clocking in for work, we forget why we are at this job. We get so occupied by the trivialities of daily life and grind that we forget the purpose behind it all.
And this results in losing our joy and love for our work.
Back in February, I loved every moment of my online writing. I was writing every day and seeing results every day. With every published post, my skills were improving, and my belief in myself was increasing. From the outside, all was working well. And yet,on the inside, I was breaking apart.
I caught the early signs of heading towards burnout. I could sense its inevitability. But while my body and soul wanted a break, my logical brain was adamant about continuing.
"We have just started making great strides, and you want to take a break?" the logical brain said. "What about the views? What about the readers who have just fallen in love with your work? Will you abandon them all and take a break? If you take a break, they'll forget about you and move on to someone else."
While my logical brain was screaming, my intuition calmly kept repeating.
"I need rest. I need rest. I need rest."
That's the problem with the inner voice. It's quiet and calm, and it can be lost in all the noise going on in your head and around you.
But if there is one thing the past couple of years has taught me, it is to listen to that inner voice.
When I asked myself if I genuinely needed a break, I could feel my shoulders drop down and relax. When I wondered about continuing my routine as it was, I felt agitated and anxious.
I even turned to oracle cards to help me find a solution.
The vote was unanimous. A break was a necessity I couldn't ignore anymore.
I knew a week or two wouldn't cut the chase. It had to be a month. So I made the last-minute decision and let all of you know about my month-long break.
Within a week, I realised how stressed I was, and I didn't even know it.
My writing was turning bland.
I was constantly complaining about how I never had enough time.
I wasn't sleeping well.
I was falling back on my exercise.
No wonder I sensed a burnout on its way.
As I mentioned earlier, we get so busy with our day-to-day life that we don't notice the subtle changes. We don't see life going sideways.
So this is what I did.
I threw out work and writing out of my mind.
I caught up on some much-deserved sleep. And I got back to reading.
Meditating came back into the picture as well. And cleaning my room, desk and desktop was up next.
Then I went off on a 6-hour train journey to meet my best friend. The last time we met was in 2019, right before You-Know-What-Took-Over-The-World.
Then it was time to come back home and come back to work.
What I felt next was surprising and eye-opening.
I was bubbling with energy to come back to writing. It seemed my brain was drunk on Red Bull. I had so many ideas and side projects brewing in my mind that I was astonished why didn't I think of these before.
Well, now I know the answer to that.
I had grown into such a myopic vision with my writing, worrying about "content creation" that I forgot about enjoying my ideas and words.
Listening to my intuition and taking a break was the BEST DECISION I made for my sanity and creativity.
This break reminded me not to forget about my relationship with my body, mind and spirit, and creativity.
It reminded me to not take anything for granted and assume it will always be there for me. I have to maintain the relationship by ensuring joy and love are the first priorities. That's what will keep the spark alive.
Finally, this break reminded me of why I chose to be a writer. Not for the views or to appease the algorithm, but for the love of words and their power to change lives.
We are humans, not robots. We can't always GO!GO!GO! We flow in waves and seasons. We need rest and nourishment.
I got mine. Make sure you get yours as well.
