Rested development

This is a love letter to taking a break. This is an ode to putting your phone in a drawer and leaving it there, for the rest of the day. This is a rallying cry to give your body a minute to stop pushing on, relentlessly ignoring the signals of chronic stress that upset your tummy and tighten your jaw. 

There's no badge for burnout. There's no reward for working late into the evening and then lying awake, wired after a long day. 

There's nothing that urgent that it requires you to compromise on healthy practices, like eating a proper breakfast or spending fifteen minutes stretching before you get into bed. 

I'm putting this in writing because I need to have a record. I'm a hypocrite. I lovingly remind my husband "You're not the Prime Minister, mate" when he's in a work frenzy and needs to be pulled out of the stress sandpit. 

But I'm just as bad. Before we took this holiday, there was a cacophony of my own creation ringing in my ears.

"Do more. Be more. You're not successful enough. You're not where you should be. You're behind. Until you hit X or Y, you're a flop."

Deep down, we know that the most important things in our lives have nothing to do with LinkedIn or Instagram, or our salary or our job title, but when the fog descends, perspective leaves. 

There's so much to be excited about on the horizon for the rest of this year, but I just couldn't find the spark. Five years into self-employment and I'd still neglected the fundamental rule of success = energy preservation. 

With rest comes reflection. The realisation that so much of the noise is from our phones, not our reality. 

If any of this sounds familiar, don't wait any longer - take a break. Even if you can't get away for a holiday, see how you feel after you turn your phone off for an entire weekend. 

Looking forward to glowing together this summer, 

NB xx

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