Why using your PTO, taking breaks from your responsibilities, and allowing your brain to rest is important for your overall well-being.

Take the time off. 

From everything. Your job, from your responsibilities, and most importantly from your brain. 

Now, I’m not saying to abandon these things altogether. That wouldn’t be the most logical or realistic decision. But hey, I won’t judge. I’m saying take the much-needed pause, the extra moments to breathe, and the much-deserved time off. 

From your job.

Use your damn PTO. I like to hoard it with the best of them, but be strategic about it. I know that if I don’t take a few days off from work now and then, it starts to eat at me. The demand of the workload, the relentless meetings, the constant questions, the pop-up urgent requests. It weighs on me and drags me down. My job is very mentally exhausting. The stress of it has physical manifestations. Knowing that I have a few days off that aren’t just Saturday and Sunday (we all know how the weekend feels like an hour) is just enough to give me the fuel I need to keep going. 

Having planned PTO is important and gives me something to look forward to. But there are moments when I just need literally a moment. Sometimes I don’t want to talk to people after a long day of being talked at. Sometimes I can’t take the overwhelming feeling of the nonstop stimulation. The chat windows are blinking, the emails are dinging, and the meeting reminders are popping up. Someone always seems to need something from me, and it’s usually at the same time. That’s where I take smaller “time off”. I head to the gym, grab some coffee or lunch out, leave a few hours early, or take a walk. I do a number of other things that aren’t related to what is draining my energy. I do something that really matters to me. It’s enough to freshen me up and push me through the 9-5, Monday-Friday life. If your job offers you flexibility in your schedule, you need to start taking advantage of that. It might just be the little something you need. 

From your responsibilities. 

Girl, you are not a machine. You can’t keep going when the weight of your life feels like it’s on your shoulders every minute of every day. Take a day off from your daily life. That can look like canceling a day on your planner or passing dinner off for your partner to do for a night. You can’t continuously be on the go and expect to have the same output all the time. That is just not sustainable nor fair to you. Take a day and do what you want to do. Get your nails done, get a facial, learn a new hobby, read a book, watch trash TV alone, drink a whole bottle of wine, whatever.

I bet you feel guilty when you do anything for yourself. Always thinking that you’re lazy, you don’t deserve it, you’ll get behind, it’s a waste of money. We always empty our cups and never take the time to fill them back up. We are always willing to help other people, but what about us? I can go on and on about the excuses we use to not do things for ourselves. That’s the problem, we spend too much time thinking and overthinking. That’s where the next part comes into play. 

From your brain.

Press that off button and power down. I’m tired. Like all the time. My sleep and wake schedule is equivalent to a nursing home resident. Sometimes I’m even asleep before the sun fully sets and up before the moon retires. I know I’m sleeping plenty, probably way more than I did working night shift for eight years. But mentally, my brain is exhausted. My to-do list never ends. If anything, it just grows with every new thought. I not only have to think for myself but for a house, for four animals, for my husband (which I’m sure every married person can relate to). I’m thinking about all my relatives, solving all the world’s problems, what I should or shouldn’t be doing, what am i possibly missing, when does which bill get paid. And probably in that random order. So yeah, saying I need a break from myself is an understatement. I’m sure you know exactly what I’m talking about.

But it’s enough. 

Those little intermittent breaks are enough to bring me back to myself. To remember what is important in my life, and to remind me why I continue pushing through each day. I hope that you remember to take time off no matter how small, do something for YOU, and always come back to yourself again. 

P.S. By the time you are going to read this when it first publishes, I’ll be actively using my time off and deep into a 10-day adventure in Iceland. If you follow me personally on Instagram, I have been/will be posting stories, reels, and posts from Iceland!

Until next week,