I’m already laughing at the fact that I’m talking about taking a break for your mental health, but I’m sitting here writing a blog post about it instead of actually taking the break... Let me explain.
This month marks my 11th year as a blogger and 23 years as a business owner. Since starting my blog, I’ve taken off every January to set goals, get creative and make plans for the upcoming year. Last month was the first month I wasn’t able to take the time off. The good news is the reason I couldn’t was because my business, has been growing at rapid speed and I had to dedicate my time to work and clients. The bad news is, it caught up with me real quick and my mental health took a complete nosedive.
I found myself getting annoyed, frustrated, angry and struggled with any sort of motivation. I still got up each day and put in long, work days to get my tasks done but I was anything but happy. As someone that’s been on an intense journey of self discovery over the past few years, I’m grateful that I’m aware enough to recognize when I started to feel unhappy. The irony is, I just wrote a blog post in November about “how to unplug and practice self care during the holidays”, but my anxiety and stress level were so high, I couldn’t even remember. There I was just 3 months ago talking about prioritizing and planning ahead so you don’t get overwhelmed and here I was doing just that.
My breaking point had arrived and if I didn’t step away, I wasn’t sure what would of happened. As much as I would of loved a real break where I escaped to a tropical island off the grid, my business needs me. So I have taken off the past 3 days, minus a few morning work hours, to gather myself. Gather myself and allow my brain to actually think outside of emails and routines. When you don’t allow yourself time to let ideas flow and plan for long-term goals, then you stay stuck in the mundane energy and a stagnant business.
That’s all it took. Dedicated hours to focus on me, my goals and what I’m going to do to get there. Prioritizing is key. I went through lists, ideas, got creative, took a deep breath and focused on what it is I really want in my life. Clarity finally presented itself again. My future felt a bit cloudy, not because I’m not succeeding, but because I felt like I wasn’t sure of what I truly wanted to manifest.
HEY UNIVERSE! DID YOU HEAR ME THIS TIME?
I’ve put in my requests now and I’m visualizing exactly what it is that I want and need. I made my vision board for the new year and my mental state already feels 10x better. Grounding myself mixed with a bit of planning and meditation has been vital.
Set your goals high, but give yourself a break if you need a little detour in order to get there.
