Do you need a ‘think break’?

Have you been hit by ‘bank holidayitis’ – that strange limbo-land normal life simply can’t penetrate? Have you been buried under a mountain of chocolate and family gatherings, abandoning all hope of keeping to your routine? I have: daily power walk: gone. 10 minutes ironing every day: gone. Book-writing: gone. Front, side and one-legged planks: well they definitely went.

Why? I stepped back. For four days I was in that wonderful world where I didn’t have to do accounts with one hand, spag bol with the other, while keeping one eye on orders and the other on the time.

Yes Easter has been a time to switch off the routine and indulge ever so slightly more in all that I love: family and friends, fizz and chocolate. And stepping back from it all is good for you. Being ‘away’ gives us space to think and pay attention to the stuff outside our day-to-day doings. Stepping back gives us a different perspective, the space to lift up our heads and view the horizon. And when we see the bigger picture we set our sights differently from when we’re immersed in the flurry of our daily hurry.

Many of us have lives that are casualties of too many demands on our time and energy. In the face of this it can be hard to see – or even care – if our daily activity is moving us forward to where we want to be in life or keeping us concreted firmly in the same place.

If this resonates with you and you feel you’re too busy running the gauntlet of everyday to have time to consider what’s next, then it could be time to take a ‘think break’. And whether you plan a weekend away to walk along a windswept beach and let your mind soar or simply arrange to get the kids out of the house for a couple of hours, you deserve to have that time to stop and check your pulse. If it’s thud, thudding in time with the drudge of monotony, then how are you going to get it racing in anticipation of your next exciting project?

Here are three kick-starters:

1. If you’ve lost sight of – or perhaps never had sight of – what will get your heart racing (allowable heartthrobs excepted) then focus on your passions. If you could get up tomorrow and spend the day doing whatever you like, what would it be? Shopping? Maybe you’re a budding fashionista. Eating? Maybe you’re a gourmet cook in the making. Reading? Maybe there’s a researcher in you just trying to break out. Look at what you love doing and it’s a good starting point for letting yourself explore how that could translate into what you’ll love doing!
2. Who has the life you love? It could be the woman down the street who has retired at the age of 38 and lives on less money, but does more with her time. It could be a colleague who seems to have so much more confidence than you and always gets heard in meetings. It could be someone famous who has made their dreams come true. Learning from other people on how they did it is a great place to start. Read your idol’s biography, talk to your colleague and pick their brains, have a coffee with the woman down the road and find out how she managed to break free.
3. Make an action plan. Break it down into small, achievable tasks and give yourself realistic deadlines. Find out what help you’ll need to complete each task and plan in some proper time to get cracking. If you’re after a big life move, like changing careers, relocating or starting a business, you’ll need to take it in stages. If it’s a simpler approach of introducing nice things into your life, identify what it is and just do it. And if you need help, hire a life coach, ask a colleague to mentor you or ask a friend to be your nagging buddy.

But whatever you do: it’s your life : live it!