The Importance of Taking Time Out

Life sometimes feels like a perennial treadmill, stuck on 13.5 speed with an incline of 6. Slow your pace down for a second and you wont be able to keep up, you’ll fall off (much to the amusement of everyone else and the fit PT in the gym,) feel pretty shitty then struggle to get back on it. And by then, of course, everyone else is way further ahead than you are and you’re going to have to go so much faster to even try and keep up. Yes, we’re all stuck on the never ending rollercoaster we call life, but what if we don’t want to take Ronan Keating’s advice? What if we don’t actually want to ride that rollercoaster? And instead we’d rather hop off, take a breather and eat a taco? I think it’s high time we stop taking the words of early 00s pop songs so seriously and just chill the fuck out.

The problem with going a billion miles per hour? You lose sight and things start to lack clarity. So whilst you think you’re doing incredibly well by constantly working and pushing towards your goals, you’re actually holding yourself back because you can’t perform at 100% one hundred percent of the time. Let’s face it, you’re not Beyonce (sorry to break it to you – and me.) I work every single day in some way; Monday-Friday 9-5, and then at weekends on my blog. Sometimes it feels relentless, but hitting publish on my posts feels like an accomplishment. But when I’m working so hard, the cracks begin to show. Typos crop up in my work like little pesky weeds and even my Mum texts me telling me to slow down the pace a little because I’m clearly not giving something my full attention. I can’t sleep properly because no matter how tired I am, my brain is in overdrive thinking, thinking, thinking, planning.

We wear our busyness like a badge of honour, engulfed in a I can sleep when I’m dead attitude, bragging on social about our diaries being filled up with meetings, appointments, dinners, coffees, brunches. Because busy = successful and important, no? Well, no, not always. It’s more like being a hamster going round and round in a little wheel thinking “dude dude, am I actually getting anywhere?”

I’m not going to go all zen on you and tell you to start meditating or something – although it is meant to be beneficial – but what I will say is don’t be afraid to step off the wheel and let go a little bit. Go for coffee (without pausing to Instagram it) head out of the city for a walk, take a digital detox, bingewatch Sex and the City, simply spend some time solo, and most importantly, screw Ronan Keating and get off that rollercoaster. I always preferred Westlife anyway…

Photography by Rebecca Spencer

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