B is for Breaks

You can’t convince me that you spend your entire work day in the same place, same chair, all day long. I’m sure you get up at some point, pour a cup of coffee, stretch your legs and take a break at some point. I’ve just started working from home and every now and then I have to just step away from the computer and pet my cats. Mental and creative breaks are important – for our sanity and our creativity.

Taking breaks and getting out of your usual scenery helps boost creativity and helps with getting a fresh perspective. Sometimes when you don’t even think you need a break is actually the perfect time for one. Some of my biggest jumps in progression for my design work and my blog have been made after a nice two week break. One week is enough time to clear your head, but two weeks opens up just a little more time to reevaluate the path you’re on and stay fresh.

Last year I took two weeks off at the end of the year to enjoy the holidays and to establish goals for the year. It was a nice way to make “resolutions”, but also decide in a concrete way where I wanted to go this year with my design work and Glass and Sable. I was able to replace my blogging time with more relaxing brainstorming and wrote down a lot of good ideas – many of which are in use today. I narrowed down what I enjoyed the most in my work and what I was the most proud of. Whatever overlapped was highlighted and I worked on ideas that made those things stronger. From that two week break birthed an editorial calendar, ideas for design projects, and my weekly post, Home // Closet // Tool.

There can be a lot of pressure to stay in the game and keep the working steadily coming, but breaks are necessary too. So maybe take an extended weekend and dodge your to do list for a few days and recharge. I promise you’ll come back fresh with a new perspective.

Follow the link below to see Kelsey’s post on Glass and Sable!