Why You Need To Take a Break

Several years ago I worked at a place that didn’t have a color copier. Whenever I needed to print something in color I would use my printer at home.

Before too long printing so many flyers took a toll my printer. It got so bad I had to buy one or sometimes two new printers a year.

This experience taught me a very valuable life principle:

Giving out too much can cause you to wear out too quickly.

Having my printer constantly churn out full color flyers without a break caused it to break frequently.

The same thing that’s true about my printer is the same thing that’s true for human beings.

When we pack our schedules so full that we’re always giving out and never resting up it takes a toll on our well being. The longer we run at a frantic pace the less joy, health, success, and fulfillment we experience.

Sometimes the best thing we can do for ourselves is to take a break so we don’t break.

After buying my third or fourth printer I realized I couldn’t afford to live like this and I needed to make a change.

I started to prioritize what absolutely had to be printed in color and what would be OK to print in just black and white. It wasn’t what I wanted to do but I realized it was the right thing to do.

There are things that we’re doing that aren’t bad, but aren’t necessarily good for us either.

Is there anything in your life that might fall into that category?

It could be the overtime you keep taking at work.

Or it could be all the stuff in your house and garage that’s consuming too much of your time to clean and maintain.

It could even be the amount activities that you allow your kids to take part in or the media you watch that’s getting in the way of your time together as a family.

Take an inventory of where you’re spending your time and remove the things that are keeping you from getting the rest that you need.

If you don’t allow yourself to take a break from time to time eventually something in your life, like your health, relationships, or joy, will break.

Question: What do you need to do so you can have more space in your life to rest? You can leave a comment below or by clicking here.