Restorative power of switching off and getting a work life balanceHindsight is a great thing, isn’t it? Back into the swing of work, I now know that I should have savored those long days of doing nothing that offered themselves up over the holidays. The thing is, mentally signing off isn’t a prerequisite to activating your out-of-office. I go over to-do lists while I’m in shavasana; respond to emails while arguing with my boyfriend; hustle for work when I know I already have too much on – my brain is a machine and it rarely stops.

I live in hope that Apple will one day launch a life-pausing device, but until then, giving your head the same space your body affords while it’s on hiatus is something that actively needs to be worked on. It’s like shutting down your computer at the end of the day – all those tabs need to be crossed off and your brain systematically powered down. Only then can you experience the true restorative power of taking time out.

Whether work ebbs or flows, remember that you work to live, not the opposite. It’s easy to get caught up in what you do. Let’s contextualize for a moment – there are 7 days in a week and 5 of them are spent doing work. Add to that your commute, post-work socializing and the time you spend gossiping with colleagues over Sunday brunch, and there’s little time for anything else. A career is consuming – both physically and mentally – but it doesn’t need to define you. Sometimes you need to step back to see what’s in front of you. Try taking a long weekend at least every couple of months rather than squeezing all your holidays into two weeks in the summer and at Christmas. It’s hard to think outside the box when you’re stuck in the daily grind, so use your downtime to do more of the things that interest and excite you. Develop your skills or learn something completely different – new opportunities come with change, and that’s almost always a good thing.

Social media has evolved to be something much more encompassing than a means of interaction – it’s almost as innate as breathing. I’ve wanted to delete Facebook for months now. There’s nothing about it that makes me feel good about myself. Not the skulking around the pictures of former flames with new loves, not stalking ex-work colleagues to feel bad about their latest achievements, and definitely not seeing lots of my friends on nights out together without me. The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is snooze my alarm, check my notifications and hope that I’ve got at least twenty minutes before my boyfriend rises.


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The persistence of social media is what frustrates me most – even if I want to switch off, the pleasing sound of that little ping or the change in light on my phone as a like pops up, is enough to surge my barometer of joy. One click and before you know it, you’ve spent the last three hours reading mundane status updates and liking pictures of avocado. Without looking, can you recount everything you’re wearing at the moment? There are days when this is a struggle for me, yet I can tell you what a handful of people on my friends list had for breakfast.

Let’s go back to those tabs that need crossing off; whatever your medium of choice, it’s not productive to be connected all the time. Delete the app’s from your phone and set aside specific times for social media. If something is important, you’ll find out about it via a phone call or email – think of everything else as a fog that steadily clogs your mind.


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There’s a difference between saying no and being selfish. Over the Christmas holidays I traveled 400 miles and spent ten nights in succession squeezed into various spare rooms with a mischievous puppy and a stressed boyfriend – which is as much fun as it sounds. It was far from a restorative break, but it reaffirmed the fact that I simply can’t be everywhere, all of the time, doing everything.

When something has to give, it doesn’t need to be you. Blowing off drinks with friends to go to yoga or skipping out of date night to read your new book in the bath isn’t being self-indulgent – it’s keeping yourself healthy. Time away from socialising is necessary because it allows us to yearn for the things that we really want, and often those things aren’t apparent in the hubbub of life.

Taking time out gives us clarity and the ability to move forward. That’s why we shouldn’t be so fast to boast about how many hours we’ve put into work that week, or about how stressed we’re feeling. Anxiety has become something of a status symbol over the last year, yet anyone who is truly afflicted by the illness will know that it’s not something you want to shout about. This year, if you choose to resolve anything, make sure it’s to spend more quality time with yourself. You need to look inside before you can start seeing out – arm yourself with knowledge and you’ll be able to take on whatever this year throws at you.

Photography by Erik Melvin