After a busy week last week, I decided to take end the work week mid-Thursday to spend the long weekend taking rest.
Before starting my business, I intentionally took time to re-learn how to take rest. I spent my whole career being a workaholic. I had a hard time taking breaks. Even when I had breaks on the weekends, I would be worrying about what I still needed to do and what was pending for me when I returned.
I also remembered how much I needed to do before taking a vacation at my previous job. Vacation could not be taken on short notice. Vacation days request were done 45 days in advance, all my clinic profiles were blocked off (had to check repeatedly to make sure they were closed and not opened again), find someone to cover for me, change my voicemail, email and let staff know. It was a process. Even with completing all the pre-requisites, there were times I would still be contacted about work related issues.
When I left, I promised myself 2 things.
1) I need to re-learn how to rest and take a break
2) When I take a vacation, it will be on my terms and I will be fully present in the moment.
I will not work on work-related issues.
I worked on both promises to myself. I was on a sabbatical team where I learned how to incorporate biblical rest. I asked myself 2 questions which I was exploring during this phrase.
1) What excites me?
2) What do I find relaxing?
It was a struggle at first because I am so used to being ‘on’. But as time went by, I saw the value of rest. I learned:
-How we are not meant to be constantly working.
-How rest brings on re-setting of the mind, body and soul.
-How it brings you closer to re-connecting to your values
-Discovering what brings you joy.
I also set boundaries when taking a long weekend or vacation. I promised myself that I would be fully present during vacation, limited social media and connect to those around me.
Both of these promises that I made to myself served me well. I was learning to honor myself as well as decreasing the likelihood of being a workaholic again.
To create a dream career, it is important to not re-create the issues that drove you to leave the previous career. Your dream career should be a balance of work and creating rest when you need it. It is also important to incorporate rest on a regular basis. Too often, we forget this and find ourselves in the beginning stages of burnout.
Your dream career is a career where you find the joy and contentment in work and rest.
Don’t let yourself burnout before you begin.
Interested in creating your dream career?
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