Take a Week Off
This week, I gave myself the week off. I just needed a break. A break from thinking about writing and from social media. I should do this more often. I need to give myself more time off to just breathe and enjoy. Yes, working on a business on top of other responsibilities is a ton of work and it is also a choice.
I actually didn’t know what to do with all of my free time at first. Isn’t that hilarious? A working mother who desperately needs a few minutes for self-care and for rest gave herself the week off and she has nothing to do??
Actually, quite the opposite. I have a massive ongoing to do list that seems to always get added to and never completed. Life is an ongoing hustle of to dos. That is part of what I wanted to take a break from this week. I didn’t want to just fill my time with my to do list - I wanted to actually spend my free time on fun things. Thinking of them was a little difficult at first. Then… the ideas came rolling in:
Sleep in
Get caught up on my journal
Go hiking by myself
Ride my paddleboard
Read one book
Go for a walk with a friend
Play in the dirt and plant some flowers
Eat one gigantic ice cream from Norm’s
Watch a guilty pleasure TV show or movie
Treat myself to a shopping trip
Have a cocktail at night
Setup my hammock and take a nap on the deck
My week this past week was AMAZING! I did many of things on my “week-off” list and more. I did not spend any time on social media, I didn’t make any content or write at all for my business, I didn’t do a ton of housework either - just the bare minimum to keep things going.
Instead of filling my time with business to dos, I just lived. I had so much fun floating on the water in the toasty high-80-degree summer heat. I was incredibly creative with my flower garden and even had my son help me dig holes for over 30 plants (he is 2 and loves the dirt). I spent hours walking with my friend until the last shred of light faded into the night and we were eaten alive by mosquitos - I have cankles from how swollen my bug-bitten ankles are. She fills my cup every time I see her and I got to prioritize spending time with her.
I needed some time off and I’m really glad that I gave that gift to myself. Even though I am my own boss and have other adult and mother responsibilities - it was just so nice to get a break, to have some perspective, and to just live.
It also gave me some perspective of all the things that I actually do get done each day but I don’t really give myself credit for. Like making the bed, making all meals for the day, taking a shower, working at a full-time job, calling the electrician, cleaning up dog poop in our backyard, providing clean clothes, paying the bills, cutting my son’s finger nails, finding a fun activity to do with our family, etc…
We get so much more done on our to do list than we ever write down or give ourselves credit for. Yes, we all may have a to do list that continuously gets added to. That’s just life. AND there are times when we should give ourselves the week off from the ongoing hustle just to live life a little bit more.
What I’ve taken away from my week off is that my to-do-list can actually be trimmed up quite a lot. There are many things on my list that aren’t really important nor will make a difference if they get done or not. They aren’t going to move the needle so I took them off the list. I gave myself some perspective this week and when I came back to my list… I got to do some much needed pruning.
Thank you, to myself, for giving myself the week off. It is just what I needed.
