“After all, computers crash, people die, relationships fall apart. The best we can do is breathe and reboot.” ~Carrie Bradshaw (Sex In The City)

You’ve been there. Approaching burnout.  In a relationship, in a job, with your family.  It’s not necessarily that you hate, want to leave or don’t appreciate any of these, but you just need a break. It’s a real need and it’s necessary to avoid doing permanent damage to your relationships, career, business or life.  Often a perceived feeling of needing to escape a situation altogether may be a real need to simply reboot.

Everyone and everything has a natural cycle which includes rest.  We have projects and responsibilities that we feel we absolutely can’t delegate, get assistance with or take a break from.  Nothing is further from the truth.  Sometimes, taking a break is what stops everything from breaking permanently.

Signs That You Need To Reboot

• Irritability
• Creative flow is blocked
• Inability to focus or concentrate
• Feeling like you’re in a “rut”
• Insomnia
• Worrying
• Getting physically ill
• Becoming overly emotional over things that are not important or having an emotional response does not match the stimulus.

Why We Avoid Rebooting

• Fear that we will look incompetent or weak
• Fear of being labeled “not a team player”
• Feeling like we must be able to handle everything ourselves
• Lack of trust of others (no one can do this the right way, except me syndrome).

Everyone needs to shut down and get rest.  Sometimes the time when you feel you can’t take a break is the exact time you need to stop. Take a breath and reboot.  Walk away from the project, take some time for yourself, rest and recharge.  When you don’t The Universe finds a way to make you take one.  You get ill and you’re forced to take a break.  Once, when I was pregnant with my second child, I was working a job that was stressful and was seriously burned out.  Instead of asking for a day or two off to rest, I pushed through, resentful and growing more tired every day.  Finally, I got sciatica and ended up on bed rest for half the pregnancy.

The most significant lesson I learned was this: nothing fell apart.  Everything got done.  Every file, every customer, every piece of work.

The dangers of not taking a needed break can be serious.  We grow increasingly resentful or unproductive.  Emotional and physical fatigue affect performance, decision making capabilities, creativity and patience.  Depression, illness, and dysfunction within families and teams are by-products of not turning off and tuning out.

Rebooting doesn’t have to be a drastic departure. There are ways to reboot in your daily life.   You can reboot for minutes, an hour or for weeks.  What’s important that you do it.

Ways to Reboot

• Mediation
• Prayer
• Exercise
• Spend time in Nature
• Take Deep Breaths
• Take yourself on a date and do something you love
• Go on a weekend get away
• Take a vacation
• Spend a day or two doing absolutely nothing
• Ask for help
• Turn off the Phone
• Turn off the Computer
• Go for a drive
• Visit A Museum
• Go to the beach or Pool
• Girls or Guys night out
• Create something (paint, pottery, write, draw)
• (Insert your own here)

Reboot daily with meditation or journaling. Reboot occasionally by taking a break away from everything and recharge. Reboot longer by taking a vacation or sabbatical.  Trust that everything will be taken care of while you take care of you.  Come back to your business, family, project or job with a clear head and heart ; refreshed and ready to go!