I’m starting to hear comparisons of how people spent their isolation time: Mr. X wrote four books. Ms. Y completed five certifications. Mr. Q revamped his entire garden. And with each of these statements comes the second part, usually unspoken: what did you do?
You know what? I think you’re doing well if you managed to come out of the last two years more or less intact.
Because I work in the productivity space, I know that people push themselves – hard – to do more, have more, be more.
And it is OK to take a break. Whether it is for a weekend, a season, or a couple of years.
My Long Weekend
A couple of weeks ago, I guess I let drop more F bombs than usual in a conversation with my programming partner. He said, “Do you need to take a mental health day?” and proceeded to assure me that he wasn’t joking around, he was seeing me fray around the edges.
I took the following Monday off. And decided that the mental health day would be a mental health weekend, where I made myself do nothing. No task lists, no shoulds, no musts, no deadlines.
It helped. Back at work, I was able to better deal with the stress of being constantly vigilant and expecting harassment attacks around every corner. (The situation has been resolved, and I thank all of you who have reached out to support me.)
It’s OK to take a break.
So What If You Did Little?
As isolation starts to close down, there is going to be more talk of what people did with the time.
And if you took that time as a break, I would hazard a guess you needed it.
Don’t worry about the super-achievers who are held up and praised for their extraordinary productivity.
If you survived with little damage, it is enough.
It’s OK to take a break.
