Photo by Austin Schmid on Unsplash
In short: Time off is a necessity, and your mind needs it as much as your body does. Stepping away, even for a few hours, clears your head, calms your stress and lets you see what you really want. You don’t need a week on the other side of the world: a day, an afternoon or a quiet weekend will do, as long as you disconnect and give your attention to something you love.
It’s Sunday evening. The weekend went on shopping, washing, a quick look at your work emails “just to be ready”, and a long scroll on the sofa. Tomorrow it all starts again, and you’re as tired as you were on Friday. You had two days off, and somehow you didn’t have any time off at all.
If you know that feeling, this article is for you. I’d like to talk about what real time off is, why your thinking depends on it, and how to make room for it in a full life.
Why is time off a necessity and not a luxury?
When you work day after day without a real pause, you can keep going for quite a while. But something changes quietly. You’re busy and yet you’re getting less done. Small decisions feel heavy. You snap at people you love. You can’t remember the last time you had a new idea.
That’s what running on empty feels like. Your body and your mind both need moments when nothing is asked of them, to rest, to sort through what has happened and to fill up again. Think of the last time you took a proper break, even a few hours with a good book. You came back lighter, didn’t you? Problems that looked impossible on Thursday had a solution by Monday.
Taking time off doesn’t mean you care less about your work or about the people who count on you. It’s the opposite. Someone who looks after their own energy has more to give, and gives it with a better heart. If your days at work are part of what’s wearing you down, I’ve gathered practical ideas in managing stress at work.
What is a “think week”, and do you need a whole week?
Much has been written about Bill Gates and his “think weeks”. For many years he has gone away on his own, twice a year, for a week of reading and reflection. No family, no friends, no colleagues. Just time to think.
A whole week for yourself may sound out of reach. But you don’t have to travel round the world to enjoy the same benefits. If you have never taken a week of reflection, to look back on your past and think about your future, I highly recommend it. You can do yoga, meditate, read, or simply study something that interests you. You can work on your personal development or go hiking in the woods. You decide.
And if a week isn’t possible, take a weekend. Or a day. Or even a few hours. It will still clear your mind, and a clear mind is what allows you to make good decisions about what you want in your personal and your professional life.
Why does disconnecting change so much?
We’re connected to everything through our phones: messages, news, social media. That means we’re interrupted all day long, often without noticing it any more. Our attention is cut into tiny pieces, and a mind in pieces can’t think deeply or rest deeply.
When you disconnect, something lovely happens: time slows down. An afternoon feels long again. You taste your tea. You hear the birds. You enjoy the moment, which is something we neglect far too often. This is time to cherish, because you’re spending it on something you care about instead of watching it slip past.
If putting the phone away feels hard, you’ll find gentle ways to begin in my article on taking a digital detox.
What is recovery flow, and how do you find it?
Not all rest is lying on the sofa. Some of the deepest rest comes when you’re completely absorbed in something you enjoy. Remember a time when you were so taken up by a hobby, a sport or a creative project that you forgot the clock. When you finally looked up, you felt refreshed and somehow more yourself. That’s what I call recovery flow.
The idea of flow comes from the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who described it in his book “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience” as being so fully absorbed in an activity that it brings joy and fulfilment. In those moments, worry has no room. Anger, fear and frustration loosen their hold, and calm and joy have space to come back.
This matters most when you’ve been through a hard time. After a loss, a separation or a setback at work, you can feel lost and discouraged, as if you’re making no progress at all. An activity that absorbs you gives your mind a rest from going round in circles, and little by little it gives you back a sense of direction. Here’s how to invite it in.
1. Choose something you truly enjoy
Gardening, painting, baking bread, playing the piano, swimming, mending something with your hands. The more you love it, the more easily you’ll lose yourself in it. It doesn’t have to be useful, and you don’t have to be good at it.
2. Keep your aims small
You want to be absorbed in the doing, with no worry about the result. One row of knitting, one page of your sketchbook, twenty minutes in the vegetable patch. And be kind to yourself if it isn’t perfect.
3. Stay with it
Put your phone in another room. Flow can’t begin while you’re being interrupted, and it usually needs a little while to arrive.
4. Be patient
Some days it comes easily, some days it doesn’t. Keep coming back to the activity, and it will become one of the surest ways you have to restore yourself.
What works for someone else may do nothing for you, and that’s fine. Time spent this way also feeds your thinking, as I explain in how to look after your mental energy. And when you share what you love with others, in a class, a choir or a walking group, you gain something more: people around you who’ll be there on the difficult days.
What does time off do for the people you love?
When you’re always working and always tense, it’s hard to be truly present. You’re at the table, but your mind is still in the office. Your family and friends get what’s left of you at the end of the day.
Time off gives them the real you again. It can be a family holiday, or simply a quiet evening at home with the phones away, a meal cooked together, a long conversation on a walk. Those are the moments that bring people closer, and they only happen when you’ve stopped.
How do you make time off a priority?
One way is to plan it in advance. A long weekend, a week away, a free afternoon: write it in your diary and treat it like an appointment you wouldn’t cancel. When it’s only an intention, something else always takes its place. I explain how to protect this kind of time in non-negotiables to keep stress at bay.
A few things to try this week:
Block two hours that belong to you alone, and decide now what you’d love to do with them.
Go outside. A walk in nature, without headphones, is one of the quickest ways to quieten a busy head.
Allow yourself a nap or an early night. Rest counts as doing something. If your nights aren’t restful, my article on simple habits for better sleep may help.
Keep one part of the weekend free of chores. A slow Sunday morning can change the whole week, and you’ll find ideas in a Sunday self-care routine.
Take a notebook. When your head has cleared, ask yourself what you’d like more of in your life, and what you’d like less of. Write down whatever comes.
So take a step back. It can make the difference between burning out and living a life in which you do well and feel well. Looking after yourself isn’t selfish. It’s what makes everything else possible. You’ll find more answers in my questions and answers on recovery and time off.
Frequently asked questions
How much time off do I need to feel a difference?
Less than you think. A week is wonderful, but a weekend, a day or even a few quiet hours with your phone switched off can clear your head. What matters most is that the time is truly yours and that it comes back regularly.
I feel guilty when I stop. How do I get past that?
Guilt usually comes from the idea that rest has to be earned. Try seeing time off as part of your work and your care for others: you think more clearly, you are kinder and you make better decisions when you have rested. Start small, and notice how you come back.
What should I do with my time off?
Something you enjoy and that takes your whole attention: walking, gardening, reading, drawing, cooking, yoga, making music. Or nothing at all for a while. The only thing to avoid is filling the time with errands and screens, and calling that a rest.
What is recovery flow?
It is the state you are in when you are so absorbed in something you love that you forget the time and your worries along with it. You come out of it refreshed. It is one of the most restoring ways to spend time off, especially after a difficult period.
When should I talk to my doctor?
If rest no longer restores you, if you wake up exhausted for weeks, feel empty, tearful or detached from things you used to enjoy, or if sleep, appetite or mood have clearly changed, please talk to your doctor. These can be signs of burnout or of something else that deserves proper care.
Would you like some help?
Rest, recovery and the rhythm of your days belong to health just as much as what’s on your plate, and they’re part of what we look at in my group programmes in nutrition and health, such as Six Tuesdays in Montignac. If you’d like to know when the next group opens, write to me at hello@catherinepolet.coach.
Would you rather work one to one? I also coach online. Book a free 20-minute call, and we’ll look together at where a little real time off could fit into your week, and what you’d love to do with it.
About Catherine
I’m Catherine Polet, a holistic nutrition health coach, yoga and autogenic training teacher for more than 30 years, author and speaker. I help people find a way of eating and living that suits their own body, online in English, French, Spanish and German, and in person in Southwest France.
