Giving yourself a break is a big thing so today I want to share 5 tips on how to use your time well when you do that. It’s relevant now given the holiday season is upon us, a time when we may be able to give ourselves a break.
But given the holiday season can also a busy time for you, it’s important that when you can give yourself a break, you make it a meaningful break.
The last time I wrote I talked about giving myself a break. And I did. Nearly three months of it. I realised I could not do everything without depleting my energy stores and so chose to redirect the time spent blogging to creating a new online home for my blog and work.
But to use the break in the way I wanted and make this new website happen, I had to do a few things. I’m sharing the five things I learned as you may find them useful to apply when giving yourself a break.
5 ideas to help you give yourself a break. B Babcock 2016.
Determine what you can do for yourself, i.e. use your strengths
I have a decent eye for design, am good with IT, and with all the drag and drop website builders available these days, decided it couldn’t be too hard to design the website myself. Plus, I didn’t have a lot of money to pay someone to build it for me.
The process was not without hiccups and setbacks. One delayed me about two months. But there was good learning in it. I got there in the end. And got to indulge my inner design and IT goddesses in the process. They are happy. I’m proud of my achievement. *pats herself on the back*
This reminded me of the following two learnings.
Not all will go according to the plan for your break
That’s ok. Remind yourself what you are learning. You are where you need to be because that learning is going to help you and can even help others at some point.
For example, I had to remind myself not to beat myself up for not blogging and that the world was not going to end as a result. Reminding myself I was using the time very well creating a lovely new home for my blog and work was also helpful in these moments.
Celebrate your achievements
It feeds your confidence and sense of self-worth. Important to do regularly. You may worry about being seen to be bragging and some might think that.
Celebrating your achievements doesn’t have to be purely about telling other people. It can be as simple as sitting with that feeling of achievement for a time. Not too quick of a time. You’ve got let that feeling of achievement resonate because you want to remember what it feels like tomorrow, next month, next year, 10 years from now, whenever you want to.
This feeds your self-worth and therefore is very important to do.
Ask for help for those things you can’t or don’t want to do on your own
I love writing, but it takes time for me to write succinctly. (My blogs regularly hit the 1,000 word mark.) I worked collaboratively with Madeleine Forbes who polished my initial drafts.
I also worked with Jo Bradshaw on the logo design and colour scheme. Although I have a decent eye for design, I knew the logo was a job for a professional. I’m so pleased with the result and it felt like a co-creative process where I could share my ideas, something which was important to me.
Allowing myself to ask for and receive help enabled me to connect with others, get to know them, their talents, and get the job done a little more quickly. And asking the right people to help can make the process of receiving it very rewarding.
And my final learning?
Aim for ‘good enough’ rather than perfection
This new website is not 100% finished. Although a good part of the work is done, it’s still evolving. I’m working on search engine optimisation. (I won’t go into that here.) And I need to test it further on various platforms. You’ll see ‘sign up to my newsletter’, but you can’t sign up yet. That will happen in 2017.
But for now, my website is good enough to introduce to you and the world. So come on in to my online home, have a look around the rooms, sit down and stay awhile to read my blogs.
Welcome to Return to Wellness’s new online home. B Babcock 2016
Come back and visit in the new year to see some new things I will be introducing.
In the meantime, I wish you and yours a joyful and restful holiday season, and all the very best for 2017.
What’s it like for you?
What strategies do you employ to use your breaks as you intended? Feel free to share them below in the comments as you never know, they can help others.
If you are living with a challenging health issue or are caring for someone who is, and would like support on any of the issues discussed here, have a look at how we can work together and get in touch for a free no obligation consultation.
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© Copyright Barbara Babcock 2016
