Monday Musings: When Was The Last Time I Had A Real Break?
Just now a thought occurred to me that has truly not passed my mind at all within the last year, and it is this: when was the last time I had A Real Break? Interesting! First let’s define what A Real Break is. ARB is a period of time that is fully dedicated to rest and relaxation, without any occurrence of work or work-related activities. That’s easy enough. But what qualifies as ARB for me, specifically? The thing is, because I am my own boss and I control most of my time, I’m able to take a break whenever I need or want to. But because my work involves social media - in fact it revolves around social media - my “free time” is related to making content in some form or other, or being plugged in to my industry’s comings and goings. That’s the tricky part.
I suppose that the last time I had a real vacation from work is when I was in Italy last April. The first week of my visit was work-related as I attended a journalism conference in Perugia, but the second week I spent mostly eating, sketching, and exploring Florence, Naples, and Rome. Yes there was some social media involved but that one-week window was probably the least amount of time I’ve spent online in 2024.
I traveled quite a few times this year but almost all of them were related to work because there were sourcing trips for my jewelry business. They were also very short trips since I didn’t want to spend more time than I needed to in another country if it’s just for work.
The next question is: did I take enough breaks this year to have enough rest so I can have enough energy to do everything I needed to do? Honestly, no. My life is very closely intertwined with my work and it has been for the last 20 years since I started blogging. I don’t know if I know any other way to live, which really is a dramatic thing to say, but it’s the truth. Many days I feel exhausted even when I’m just working at home. That’s not counting my back-to-back activities that go on for weeks at a time. I’m always ON. I need to flip the off switch once in a while.
Coming into 2025, I need to think more about how I’m spending my days. I’m not burnt out currently, in fact, I’m excited for many of my plans for next year! But I will be on my way to Burn Out Town if I don’t check myself. I need to be more intentional about having A Real Break if I want to have a better balanced life.
Just thinking out loud! When was the last time you had a real vacation?
