Managing yourself: Force yourself to take a break every now and then

This past weekend I did something that very few people have seen me do (well, with the exception perhaps of JT and Ianiv and Arieanna): I forced myself to take time off. Yeah, I did. I went for lunch with my friends from when I did my undergraduate degree, I went for coffee with another friend, I went for dinner with one of my closest friends on Friday, I went for brunch twice (once with my Mom, once with my Dad). I went shopping. I took my mind off of work (and do remember, for me, work includes writing on Hummingbird604.com – my professional activity is being a professor, but I put a lot of effort and care into my blog, particularly because there are organizations, non-profits, and small businesses, theatre companies and others who depend on me for the exposure).

Because of the fact that I am always on the run, always thinking and looking at my calendar and revising my To-Do lists, and despite scheduling time off and fun activities during my weekdays, I have always struggled with being able to take full weekends off. But now that I’m in Mexico, I *have* to do it. I spend weekends with my parents, and even though they understand academic life, they won’t take a “sorry I have to finish one more blog post” or “I just need to finish editing this manuscript” for an answer.

So, one of the things that I now do is I work intensely during the weekdays, even if that means doing less fun activities during those days, so that I can fully take weekends off. And yes, I do feel refreshed after taking time off. So much so that I am now able to write more, both on my blog and in my academic writing.