
REST, PLAY AND WORK… is that the order?
“Can you believe that I have not taken any holiday in two years!”
“It’s too busy at work right now, to take time off.”
“If I take a holiday things at work will only be worse when I return.”
Do these statements sound familiar? What could be behind avoiding or delaying a holiday? What is the impact on you and others of not taking time off? It is important to stop for a moment and examine what drives your choices…
The core decision in not to take time off may be a professional image that you want to project or protect:
“I am a responsible person.” “I can’t it’s me that keeps things going.” “I can’t let the team down by taking off.” “I want to stay on top of things.”
By not taking time to unwind and to turn the “switch off”, you may be risking your productivity, your performance as well as the team’s spirit. Perfectionism can be perceived as a quality in certain examples, but can also be fear masked as strength: fear of not being enough. Perfectionism could also mask low productivity, and to compensate, you end up sacrificing family, social activities, and holidays, in the mission of unachievable goals.
Some people value being perceived as perfect, which can lead them to hide their mistakes. Consequently, by taking a holiday, they may fear that mistakes will be exposed while they are gone, and that these will affect their status.
Another message your subconscious may be sending relates to your need for control: control over your time, your life, your world, and the list goes on…
“Who will replace me while I am gone?”
“Can (s)he do my job as well as I do.”
Not being able to trust others may specify a lack of self-confidence. For some, keeping control gives them a false sense of power, making them believe it boosts their self-confidence. Imagine for a moment that you come back from holiday anticipating that while you were gone, things fell apart, only to find out that the whole thing ran very smoothly without you. What a shock! You may now think: “After all, I am not the only one who can deliver outstanding results. I guess I have to trust and let go.”
Fussiness and control will influence your performance and will make you crave adrenalin: “Thanks to adrenalin I can keep at this pace indefinitely and still manage my life!” Your quest for a job perfectly done may make you ignore what your body is telling you. Fatigue is overlooked; aches and pain get a quick fix. But you can’t see the fuel gauge indicating “red alert”, so you continue to run on empty… If or when you choose to take time off, you may be in for a shock: you spend your holiday in bed, sick. Your fuel gauge has reached the “below empty” mark. The body has an impressive way of making you stop, forcing you to listen to it. You and your body have become out of sync.
Our body is our mechanism. If we want it to keep running beautifully, we must schedule regular tune-ups. A mechanic tends to his engine with loving care: he keeps it calibrated, listens to its vibrations, because he wants it to perform at its best. If you don’t look after your engine (yourself), you can’t expect it to perform faultlessly. The key to your success is maintaining a balanced emotional, intellectual, physical and mental health. Welcome a holiday as an ideal way for you to rest, disconnect (this includes turning off your Blackberry or IPhones!), play, and enjoy the sounds of life…
If your unable to establish the reasons why you are unable to ‘Switch Off’ from work and your in that rat race of work, Call Me Genovieve Pychotherapist for Anxiety and Stress Related Issues in Buckinghamshire