#so ask yourself: would you let an employee of yourrs never take a break?

[erinlbowe]

It’s just when you need your strength – mental, physical – that you sometimes feel the worst comedown. That’s burnout. That’s when you throw your hands up and retreat. To your shelter. Take a walk immersed in music or the sounds of birds. Sit with Virginia Woolf and Malbec. Lose the world in your comfort sitcom. Write on those Great Questions that are burning in your mind at night. Break from what is draining you. It will be there when you’re ready to pick it up again.

And you will come back to it refreshed and with enthusiasm. You only get that when you catch it early. When you hit the wall and decide to not climb over it – even if you want to. Especially if you want to. Because sometimes you want to work yourself into the ground. Do you seek some sick award? Maybe you revel in the feeling of exhaustion – maybe it makes you feel important.

No, no, stop at the wall and rest. It is not good to find it a Wednesday in the early afternoon and think ‘my God, I am drained because I worked all weekend.’

It’s constantly playing this game with yourself. Will you let yourself rest? Will you decide you deserve it? But really – what could you possibly have done to not deserve it?