Out of Office
A container to recharge
Hi there, and hi August!
Have you had a chance to get away from your usual rhythm and routine this summer? I hope so. You really don’t even have to travel to reset whatever it is that might need a shakeout.
If not, consider your time spent here being “away” for the next few minutes.
I’m out of office at the moment and wrote this note to you a few weeks back while setting some intentions for taking time off, which got me thinking about what that even means. Out of office, on vacation, a break… it’s this movement in our non-habitual direction that creates space to rest and recharge. We all need this, probably more than we even realise.
Ready, set, rest!
Phew, it makes me sweat thinking about time off in this way. “Getting ready” to be away can be a lot of work and it’s easy to put a lot of pressure on a holiday to deliver the experience you’re craving. In reality, winding down is rarely a swift or linear process. If you’ve ever found yourself rushing to switch off or trying to force yourself to relax you might be nod in recognition.
This is mostly because it does, in fact, take time to unwind. While we get up and go 0 to 60, it doesn’t work the other way around, mostly because we don’t practice resting with the same vigour we give to working.
I talk a lot about a little, often. This is a pillar of my yoga practice and the way I’ve coached for many years. And, while practical and impactful, when feasible it can be really useful (and important!) to carve out more time and space to unwind and recharge — to create a bigger container to recover and recalibrate.
If you haven’t taken time off in a while, why is that? Habit or choice? Inertia or intention? Or maybe you’re avoiding stepping back out of FOMO? Do your “vacations” feel like hard work? Are your weekends more exhausting than your weekdays? Granted, things become even more unpredictable if you’ve got kids underfoot, and maybe you call family vacays a trip rather than holiday. Still — pause and consider how you create and use your precious downtime.
Getting “ooo” is so often sparked by junctures or practicalities such as wrapping up a big project at work or when school breaks up for summer holidays but if you look closely there’s natural spaces daily and weekly that cue a shift in gears. And sure, it’s great to go on a vacation or maybe you’d love a spa break but you don’t have to get on a plane or lie on a beach, or even have an entire free day to find a reset — a brief out of office.
Exhale completely
Creating a container for rest could look like:
Clearing your mornings for a few days or a week and not setting an alarm
Saying no thank you to weekend plans and wind down your week agendaless, knowing that you have two days ahead to do whatever you feel
Decreasing your stimulus for a few days — give yourself permission to not keep up with messages and/or take a break from social media and scrolling
Scheduling time for yourself to do something you love but rarely have time to engage with — go for a hike, read a book, linger in your garden…
Going for a walk alone
Taking yourself out to lunch
Don’t wait — proactively create containers for your own rejuvenation in the time that you do have. What might that look for you this month, this week, today?