Give yourself permission to take a day off.

Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.
– Ovid

Do you take planned breaks? It’s something I find difficult to do myself but it’s certainly something I’m working on and something I strongly encourage all of my clients to do. I can be a bit of a broken record to be honest – after all, I do have a degree in recreation! 😉

The thing is, when you have an ADHD brain it can feel like there is never time for a break, there is always more to do and intentionally stopping seems counterproductive – not to mention guilt-inducing when you think about all the time you’ve already “wasted” not doing the all the stuff you need to do.

But guess what happens? That cycle of guilt, stress and wasted time is only perpetuated when we don’t take regular breaks – if they aren’t planned and taken on our own terms they will still happen, they just look different.. Hello task paralysis, doom-scrolling, waiting mode and unwelcome hyperfocus. Often, when our body has really had a gutful, we get sick, and usually at the most inopportune times – like right as we’re heading off on a long overdue holiday! That time we call “wasted” is one of the sneaky ways a brain has of forcing a break, but we rarely get to experience the many benefits that come from a more intentional break.

Taking a day off can provide a great opportunity to relieve some pressure and push the reset button. Removing the expectation to get everything, or anything, done is one of the most mentally freeing choices you can make. Instead of the feeling of overwhelm or dread you might commonly feel when you get stuck in an unwanted downtime loop, you can actually enjoy your rest and come back feeling refreshed and motivated to get some stuff crossed off your never-ending to-do list.

As the Roman poet Ovid declares in his quote above, a field that has been rested produces an abundant crop. So much good stuff happens when we purposefully take time out to rest and recharge that it’s worthwhile allocating regular time for it in our schedules. Time out can give us new perspective, space for ideas or even the chance to find some joy in our work.

In fact, one of the last times I intentionally took a day off I spent time at my desk doing website edits I’d been planning for months but never found time for. It ended up being a super productive day – removing the expectation to accomplish anything left me free to do what felt good – and that day it just happened to be tinkering with my website. Sometimes it looks like getting the laundry under control, pottering in the garden or spending time with friends.

My challenge to you is to find a day (or at least an hour!) in the next month – or even better, this week – and give yourself permission to block it out as a time of rest.

And when that day comes, do whatever feels good to you.

TRY IT OUT:

Grab your calendar and find some time to take off. Let us know when it’s happening in the Next Level ADHD Entrepreneurs group so we can support you and hold you to your commitment!

I’m taking delivery of my first robovac this week and I’m giving myself permission to take at least a half day off to play with it and get my floors (and probably other parts of my house) tidied up! I don’t have a lot of time to spare lately when it comes to work, but in my experience that’s all the more reason to take a break. And almost 6 months into owning a little golden fur machine who leaves a floof trail wherever he goes, I’m more than ready to enjoy some clean floors! 😅

I’ll see you back here next week,