Change, Happiness, Purpose, Relationships, Success, Support

Do You Need a Break?

It’s often said that it’s during the difficult times that you realise who your true friends are. Yesterday reminded me why this is so. My life has been incredibly busy lately – juggling my life as a mum, my job as a writer, my relationship with my husband, along with the rest of my family and friends. And as well as I’ve been coping, I hadn’t realised how badly I needed a break. I didn’t realise this until my two eldest children went home with their friends, and as my youngest napped, I ended up napping on the couch for two and a half hours.

When you think that you’re coping

I’ve always been a very independent person. It makes me feel proud to know I’ve accomplished a task on my own. It makes me smile knowing that I, alone, was able to achieve something. But there’s always a price to be paid for being so independent.

Given the childhood that I had, I have often struggled with asking for help in many areas of my life – emotional, practical, even financial. I’ve found it easier just to deal with everything on my own.

But why do any of us deal with everything on our own? Why do we feel compelled to swamp ourselves with so many tasks, when there are loving people in our lives that are more than happy to help?

Do_You_Need_a_BreakPhoto Credit: pakorn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Taking time off

When my two eldest daughters went home with their friends yesterday, I didn’t have to do any of the afternoon school pick-ups. I didn’t have to rush between two different schools, anxious that I wouldn’t pick them both up in time. Thanks to my kind and thoughtful friends, I was able to have a 3 hour break that I’ve probably deserved and needed for a very long time.

Although the break I had just started as a way for my children to play with their friends, the experience ended up being incredibly rewarding for me as well.

Maybe you’re going through a similar experience and are in desperate need of a break too.

Maybe you’ve accumulated hours of annual leave at work, but keep insisting that you’ll save it for when it’s really “necessary”.
Maybe you’re going through a life-changing experience, but you’re trying to deal with it all on your own.
Maybe you’re a parent, just like me, who needs a day or night off just to recharge yourself, but you keep putting it off.

Do you need a break?

Too often, we’re so busy just doing what we can to stay alive, but are we actually living?

It’s true, it’s not always a practical or convenient time to be taking a break, but we need to ask ourselves if there is just one small thing that we can do for ourselves. ONE.

Maybe if we’re feeling overworked, take a 3 or 4 day weekend instead.
If we’re a parent, get someone we trust to look after the kids for just a couple hours.
If we’re a student, just take a night off from studying and catch up with friends.

As much as we try to stay on top of things, sometimes what we need most is a break.

A break from our typical routines.
A break that will help to recharge us so we are better able to deal with whatever life continues to throw at us.

I know, beyond any doubt, if it weren’t for the break my friends gave me yesterday, I wouldn’t feel up to writing right now. I wouldn’t have started and finished writing two articles in two hours last night!

I realise now that not only did I need the break, but I deserved it too.

We all deserve a break now and then.

Thuy Le (formerly known as Thuy Yau) is a freelance writer and Youth Work graduate living in Perth, Australia. She loves to share her own personal experiences about overcoming adversity, as she believes that human beings are more capable than they realise. She writes to make a positive difference in the world and to inspire others to learn from themselves and their own experiences. Her writing has been discussed on radio, won writing contests, appeared on The Huffington Post UK and major Australian sites such as news.com.au, SMH, Kidspot and Essential Kids. She has just completed her first book – a memoir - and is on the search for a publisher.

2 thoughts on “Do You Need a Break?

  1. Sometimes we all need to take a break from the pressures of daily life, whether it be family, job, kids, etc. It helps us get our minds focused and at ease. We all need a chance to unwind now and then. It’s good for us!

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