Tip: Take Time Away
Time away when your whole office or campus is off is much more restful than when your office is still chugging along as normal - take full advantage!
Recently I had a conversation with a few friends, all of whom work in education, about taking time off from work. One of them had the very astute observation that time away when your whole office or campus is off is much more restful than time off for you as an individual when your office is still chugging along as normal. If you work in a university, even if you don’t teach, odds are good you’re about to have at least a few days where the school is closed. What are your plans to make the break a true change in routine?
Take work email off your phone. If you’re like me, you probably use your phone pretty consistently throughout the day. Even when I’m being mindful about doing something phone-free, I often play podcasts or music, respond to texts from family…it’s hard to completely unplug. For this break, I’m removing my work email account from my phone entirely. If possible - and I urge you to consider that it’s likely very possible - do not check email at all. And, doesn’t it say something about where we are that this suggestion, even as I type it, feels radical?
Choose something fun. Think about an activity you like to do but have stopped doing over the past two years. Did you spend the first few pandemic weeks doing puzzles and listening to podcasts? Baking bread? Learning to knit? Have you been meaning to get back into running? Yoga? Painting? Whatever it is, can you spend just 15-30 minutes a day doing that?
I wish I had more than just two suggestions to share - I do plan to lean in hard on these two, though, in hopes of having a restful break. I’ve already started my 15 minutes a day by playing with a new sketch program I downloaded. I’m certainly no artist, but I’ve been spending easily more than 15 minutes in the evening experimenting with different brushes and media. It’s not the same as learning how to really paint, but it is a lot more convenient…
I would love to hear what you plan to do over the next couple weeks to recharge.
Tips will be taking a short writing break, and will return in January with a new semester round-up of helpful ideas. Thanks, as ever, for reading.
