Last week we announced with excitement in our Friday Top Five that we took a break one evening during the week for the first time in months! Seriously, months. As parents first, business owners second, we find that our most productive hours are during nap times and after the kids go to sleep. And since there is always more work to do, we found ourselves in a vicious cycle of working nonstop every evening, not even considering what ‘not working’ one night would look like. Did we get a lot done? Yes! Did our list of ‘to-do’s’ gradually start shrinking? Absolutely. But the truth is, we started seeing something else creep in that we didn’t see coming.
Burn Out
For Jon it was sitting in line to pick Brody up from school. He left with his laptop with the intentions of finishing a blog post in the pick up line. (Side note: We show up about an hour early for pick up because the line gets so long, so it’s a great time to get caught up on emails and social content!) He sat in the pick up line, and literally just stared at the computer. By the time he realized he was just staring and doing nothing, 15 minutes had passed! It was like they just disappeared. An hour later, Brody was picked up from school, but no blog post was written. He felt totally burned out.
Thursday night came, and Erica was feeling it too. We had our nightly routine with the kids. Bellies were full, showers were done, and the kiddos were tucked in bed. Erica went into the kitchen, made herself a cookies and creme ice cream cone and sat down on the couch. She looked at Jon and said, ‘I refuse to work tonight!’ And that was it. Jon had a moment of resistance and then found a seat on the couch next to her (sans ice cream cone…trying to stay in those size 32’s!)
As we said in our Friday Top Five, it was less-than romantic. We watched America’s Got Talent until Jon fell asleep on the couch at 9 and Erica followed behind him at 9:15. But it was just what we needed. In that moment, more than any experience we could have been a part of, more than any accomplishment we could have achieved, we needed that rest. As a matter of fact, it was so good for our souls that we carried it over to the weekend as well!
We spent Saturday morning with friends at a Farmer’s Market and then made a spontaneous trip to Tucson to see Erica’s family. It was perfect.
We Aren’t the Energizer Bunny!
We realized that pushing continuously without allowing for mental or physical rest wasn’t practical because it wasn’t sustainable. Sure, there are times in life where you just have to push through. Maybe it’s the term paper that has to be completed. Or the presentation you are responsible for at next week’s meeting. For us it’s the engagement session gallery we have to get sent off to our clients or the experience we need to finish designing. And those times require buckling down, digging deep, and getting it done! But in the long haul, we realized we are not energizer bunnies. We can’t just keep going and going like the energizer bunny without rest! It’s not how our bodies were designed to operate! No amount of caffeine could have kept us going. No amount of sunshine could have pushed us through. We needed a BREAK!
And it makes perfect sense. Everyone and everything needs rest to operate well. I mean c’mon, even God rested on the seventh day after creating everything! So as much as we could have continued to push ourselves, we also would have seen a decrease in our quality and our productivity.
After a few days of quality rest, being ‘unplugged,’ and not talking work, we can say we feel as recharged as ever going into the week!!
Our Down Days
Going through that process was extremely important for us. It was not a fun time leading up to it. It honestly wasn’t fun at first taking the night off either. We felt guilty in a weird way. Like we were somehow shorting ourselves or our business. Like we were somehow losing a portion of our worth. But that was a lie. Our business isn’t who we are, it’s what we do. We pour everything we have into it and it is what we are known for, but it doesn’t define us. It is not everything we are, but it was taking everything from us.
Taking a break opened our eyes to realize that we had to start taking regular breaks, or we would be back in this same exact spot again very soon. So we initiated our ‘Down Days.’ We committed to ourselves, each other, and our business that we would take that day, every week, to rest, recharge and rejuvenate. And we protect it with everything we have, because it is that important. It’s just as important as the nights we stay up late to deliver on our promises. Because it’s our key to sustainable success. It’s a necessity to have longevity.
So if you need us on Tuesday nights, we’ll be checked out – in a good way 😉 And if you are running on the edge of burn out, we encourage you to do the same! Pick a day and guard it with everything you have! Let yourself rest, and see what amazing things you can do tomorrow! You’ll be happy you did!
Comments +