Why I gave myself a day off this week!

I believe it is so important to listen to your body! Sometimes it is really trying to tell you something!

I realised on Monday morning that mine was telling me to slow down and just take a day to myself! I’ve been busy, feeling tired and picked up a little cold from my son! I’m not ‘ill’ but I also know how my body works - once you tune into yourself you start become aware of the warning signs! I can now spot little signs that I am being told to take some time out and relax in order to stay healthy! So that is exactly what I did - I gave myself permission to take a day off and just chill! I woke just feeling slightly 'off' - in the past I may have ignored that little niggle, powered on through my day, my week but I wouldn't have been productive and more than likely I would have found myself a day or so later feeling physically poorly! So, nowadays I listen to those niggles, rather than trying to suppress them! You know that wonderful Carl Jung saying: "What you resist, persists." This really is so true, we can't ever truly suppress our feelings so if you don't acknowledge them, they're just going to come back and bite you at some later date!!

Did I feel better because of this 'Me day'? Hell yes! Did I struggle at some points during the day to properly switch off and relax? Of course, I still got distracted at times by jobs I thought I 'should' be doing or felt guilty for taking time out - what can I say? I'm still a work in progress here! But the more we can practice these skills of taking time out when we need it, the better we get at it and the less likely we are to burn out and get physically sick!

Ask yourself - when was the last time you took a day off when you didn’t have plans??

It wasn’t because you had a day out planned, or you were going on holiday or you had to take the kids somewhere and it wasn’t a day off on sick leave?!? Just a day to yourself - no plans, no agenda!!!

I challenge you to book one of these for yourself very soon!!! Let me know in the comments if you've ever done this (or you now fully intend to!!)