The importance of taking a Break

*5.07 pm* Back to work after a long and happy Diwali weekend.

Breaks are so damn necessary. I recently came across a video explaining how we tend to over work in order to achieve our goals & forget to pause & breathe. It made me realise that I often beat myself up over not doing enough & it ends up taking a huge toll on my health, both physical and mental. Of course, the highly competitive world we live in & the fear of lagging behind is the root cause of it. But it is also a choice that we consciously, repeatedly make.

No matter what field you are in, the stress and hustle is the same. We’re surrounded by technology that is moving faster than ever. It feels like life is just passing by and you are not doing enough to get on board the train. So you run too, to get there & you can’t stop, not now, not when everyone is running. You are simply going to miss out or worse, lose. It is maddening. A vicious cycle!

My parents tell me I am “over-ambitious” & I need to look after my health once in a while. And I agree. I am quite hard on myself when it comes to my career. But the need to be independent, to have a career of my choice and do equally (if not more) than what everyone around me is doing, is difficult to control. However, it ends up blurring the line between working to live & living to work. Read that again!

I had this moment of self-reflection a couple of days ago and the Diwali break couldn’t have come at a better time.

Spending time with my family last weekend made me realize that I needed to slow down. The stress of not doing enough was making me highly unhappy and I had become an emotional wreck. It was affecting all my relationships. I was angry all the time, had unreasonable mood swings, arguments & a whole lot of negativity leading to a continuous gloomy and dull mood.

During the 4-day Diwali break I completely forgot about work, about deadlines & what should be the next career move. I spent one whole day shopping, went for a day trip with some cousins on another and spent a spiritual evening praying with Mom – Dad on the evening of Diwali puja. I felt so peaceful & content after months.

I told myself that if I take out some time from my day to do what I love, or do nothing at all, I will not be missing out on anything. I will not lose. I might get there later than everyone else, but I will be happy when I do. I needed to de-stress & do it immediately.

So, I have a beautiful week planned ahead for myself. I will be reading two new books that I recently bought, go midnight cycling on the weekend and maybe even attend a dance workshop. Or you know what, I might just take a day-off & stay at home doing nothing, taking a breather.

It feels so good just writing about it. Can’t wait to update you all on how it goes.

~stay tuned~