Being a young adult, whether you’re just starting your career or you’ve been in the working industry for a few years, you are probably busy chasing the ladder and building up your career. Finding work-life balance will be hard at this phase of your life where it’s an endless rat race.

Why Do We Even Feel Guilty?

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Millennials are also expected to work long hours and hustle hard every day. If you don’t, you’ll be labelled as “lazy” or looked down upon on. Not only that, we feel like we are supposed to have a side income along with our full-time job in order to be “successful” in life. While having a side income does help, it’s not meant for everyone. 

It’s no surprise that the majority of us are experiencing a burnout, which eventually leads to depression and anxiety. It doesn’t help that in this economy, costs have gone up compared to the late 90s. On top of that, to live a sustainable life, you have to bend over backwards just to make ends meet.

See Also: How To Deal With Obsessive Worrying And Solutions To Overcome Them

You shouldn’t feel guilty at all for taking a break from work. You’re not a robot, you’re human after all. We were not born to work 24/7. 

Here are reasons why you should not feel guilty for taking a break:

1. You’ll Be More Inspired

First off, taking a break helps you in terms of personal development. When you’re taking a proper break, your mind tends to relax, and in return, you’ll be able to be more creative and inspired. The same concept applies to muscle development. If you’re overworking your muscles and exercising all the time without giving your muscles enough time to rest, it will not develop or grow, thus remaining stagnant.

2. It’s Good For Your Mental Health

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I’m pretty sure everyone has noticed there is a rise in the number of Millenials that are facing depression and anxiety. Taking the time off will help you detox your mind and clear your worries. Nobody wants to be around someone who easily snaps at you or a person who brings a negative vibe around the office all the time. Having proper rest not only helps you, but also those around you.

3. Your Productivity Level Increases

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Studies have shown that at the most, you are at the highest performance for 90 minutes. After that, you’re required to at least take a 20 minutes break. You’ll be able to perform at your best ability at work with proper rest intervals in between. Rest assured, after that break, you’ll be more ready than ever to finish off your to-do list! 

Make Sure You’re Actually Resting! Here’s how you can ensure you’re having proper rest:

1. Do Something That Isn’t Stressful

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When you do take a break, ensure you’re doing the things you love, something that is soothing and not stressful such as reading or writing. It doesn’t matter what you do – so long you’re enjoying it! You deserve the rest to award yourself for all the hard work that you’ve done. 

2. Turn off work notifications

I know it may be hard to restrain yourself from checking your emails and messages, with an uneasy feeling in your chest if there’s anything urgent you need to attend to. Set your phone notifications off so you don’t receive any messages or email related to work. Don’t bother taking a small peek! Shift your mind and focus on other things, occupy yourself with other things so you won’t even have time to check your phone.

3. Discipline yourself

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If a sudden great idea strikes while you’re resting, don’t even think about opening up your work chat or email! Write them down, and work on them later. Be disciplined enough to turn off ALL distractions and just focus on yourself at the moment.

4. Hire Professional Cleaning Services

If you find it tiring having to work all day and clean up your home at the end of the day, why not consider engaging with professional cleaning services? Let them do all the cleaning so you could spend time relaxing instead.

If no one has said this to you yet, or if they have, I’ll just remind you again – you’re doing enough. You are a work in progress, stop chasing for success without putting yourself as a priority. Work is work, they come and go. But you? You exist outside of work. So please take care of yourself, rest, and do not feel an ounce of guiltiness inside you! You deserve it.