Why it's Okay to Take a Break

Self care is something that has really been on my heart and mind a lot lately. It's hard to focus on self care when we're so busy focusing on all the other things that life brings to us and all the people we love, too. I've always thought of self care as taking a long bubble bath with a face mask on or treating myself to that new make up palette I want at Ulta or a cupcake at a local bakery but recently i've learned that there is so much more to self care than that.



It's not just about what we treat ourselves to or the beauty products and rituals we have. Self care is about taking care of your whole self; mind, body and soul. When we are in tune with ourselves then we know what we need more and less of and while there's nothing wrong with a cupcake or a trip to Ulta, those are not the things that bring true value into our lives. That's why I'm choosing to focus on all aspects of self care, with little indulgent treats along the way because cupcakes and make up are two of my love languages.


I'm sure you're wondering what this has to do with why it's okay to take a blogging break? Back to that when we are in tune with ourselves we know what we need more and less of thing...Yes, that. Even the things we love to do and are passionate about can become too much if we aren't taking care of ourselves and are always putting pressure on ourselves to be the best. With blogging, comes a lot of behind the scenes things that non-bloggers don't see. Sure, there's the writing posts but there's so much more to it than that. There's editing the posts and then taking dozens, even hundreds of photographs just to pick a few good ones to use and editing them, as well. After hitting publish on the post you then have to share it to all your social media accounts, Pinterest groups and Facebook groups and participate in sharing the love on other's posts in those groups, as well. It's something I whole heartedly enjoy and something I chose to do but there are times that I have felt burned out and fallen victim to the comparison game. It leaves me feeling defeated and exhausted both mentally and intellectually.

And that's why it's okay to take a break from whatever it is that you do, because it's the highest form of self care to have a little grace with ourselves and allow ourselves to have a break. Even the things we're passionate about will burn us out if we don't stop to re-charge every once in a while. I'll be honest. I came into this new year with the world hustle in mind and I took January by storm. It was an amazing month but this month i'm feeling a little less ambitious and realized that the content I've planned out isn't what's really on my heart. It's not setting my passion for blogging on fire like everything in January did and so I realize that maybe I need to give myself permission to take a break and re-focus my content.

There will be no Valentine's gifts guides on my blog like I had planned this week. I just wrote three for Christmas two months ago and every other blogger will be sharing their gift guides this week, too. I'll support them and theirs instead of forcing myself to publish content that doesn't feel genuine to me. That being said, my entire week's worth of content just got erased and now I have nothing but a post for Friday and this impromptu post today. Next week i'm taking M-W off for my birthday and Valentine's Day. Usually having 8 days of no planned content would be sending me into panic mode but since i'm learning what total self care is and how intellectual self care is part of that, I feel nothing but calm and peaceful and honestly a little excited and way more enthusiastic about this blogging thing.

How do you enjoy breaks?