A Break Before the Breaking-Point

Your head is down, the list is long, and you’re firing out  serious get-shit-done energy.  So why would you stop to take a break now?

When you’re learning to run, it’s usually suggested to start with a walk/run cycle.  The idea is the walk cycle shows up before you’re at your max and allows you to recover quicker so you can keep going for longer.  Build endurance.  

The same is true for taking breaks in our daily lives.  Ideally, the break comes before we’re at the “breaking point”.  It’s not very intuitive for modern humans to create a workflow like this.  It requires a certain amount of attunement, prediction and planning.  So often we don’t hear the whispers of our body calling us to step away for a moment.  The whisper to: switch our position, stretch our eyes, drink some water, unclench our jaw.  We keep going until we’re uncomfortable and at our max.  Recovery takes longer and we may have stronger feelings like resentment and agitation.  

Taking breaks can be as simple as these little body adjustments mentioned above.  Taking a walk and getting outside is one of the best ways to clear tension if you’ve been at the computer for hours.  Sometimes we need to plan longer breaks, a few days, weeks, and sometimes even months.  These longer breaks can help us remove the weight of daily stress and responsibility and allow us to find a more neutral state from within, giving space for our true nature to resurface.  

How are you going to take breaks this season?