I didn’t know how necessary it was to take a real break from work. Sure, supervising 20+ staff members is no walk in the park, but I believed I was handling it well.

Until the government shutdown when every person relied on me alone to do it. I’m not upset nor angry. I knew I had to do it and I tried to without complaint because we were all in the trenches together. It sucked but we escaped unscathed. But I knew I needed some time off.

Until I experienced 7 days without my phone ringing, without the group chat dinging any time of the day or night, and zero work-related incidents. I didn’t know how much I needed to rest.

We preach rest, especially in the confines of mental and physical health. Yet the overall toll of no rest on a person’s well-being is immeasurable. I just did not understand. It recently came to my attention I haven’t had an uninterrupted week off work in more than 3 years. During vacation, I’ve always had my laptop and have done work while on leave, either in response to phone calls or out of a misguided need to control the outcome. But it was controlling me.

Upon return to the workplace, my coworker decided to a) suggest doing a pizzle together, b) leave early that day, which meant I had to sort the puzzle alone, and c) find something else to do every single day so the grand total of days we’ve puzzled together is zero.

Figures.

_____________________

I ask you –

What are your thoughts on needing a break from just having a break?

(The post Break from the Break first appeared here at Running on Fumes.)

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